Anthropology, kinship and biotechnology

Pre-requisites: Operational knowledge of English

Course objectives: Developing analytical skills that enable understanding the relationship between kinship, (bio) technology and genetics in contemporary society, identifying and theoretical reflection on current social issues and problems that result from scientific and technological development

Course description: Through the expansion of (bio) technology, genetics and genetic engineering, and other social changes in the modern world, kinship relations are placed in the limelight, opening a new setting for anthropological study. Biological reproduction through medical assistance leads to the separation of sex from conception and birth, and thus calls into question our conventional notions of respect of nature and culture, setting a series of social and ethical issues, such as those on bio-politics and relations of power. Simoultanuosly, the development of genetic influence on changes in the perception of relatives and family connections. From this stems the need for reexamination and redefinition of the fundamental principles, concepts, concepts and the domain of the anthropological study of kinship and biological reproduction.

Learning Outcomes: the ability of conceptualizing social and theoretical issues related to redefining the notion of biological reproduction and kinship relations, understanding of different aspects and phenomena related to the development of genetics and new reproductive technologies

Literature/Reading:

• M.Strathern, Reproducing the Future. Essays on anthropology, kinship and the new reproductive technologies, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1992.
• A. Clarke and E. Parsons, Culture, Kinship and Genes. Toward Cross-Cultural Genetics, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 1997.
• L. Akesson, Bound by blood? New Meanings of Kinship and Individuality in Discourse of Genetic Counseling, u: L. Stone (ed.), New Directions in Anthropological of Kinship, Rowman and Littlefield Publichers, New York, Oxford, 2001,125-138.
• D. Heat, R. Rapp and K-S. Taussing, Genetic Citizenship, u: D. Nugent and J. Vinsent (eds.), A Companion to the Anthropology of Politics, Blackwell Publishing, London, 2004, 152-167.
• S. Lundin, The Threatened Sperm: Parenthood in the Age of Biomedicine, u: L. Stone (ed.), New Directions in Anthropological of Kinship, Rowman and Littlefield Publichers, New York, Oxford, 2001, 125-138.
• J. Edwards, P. Haravey and Peter Wade, Anthropology & Science. Epistemologies in Pracrice, Berg, Oxford, New York, 2007,133-152
• C. P. Hayden, Gender, Genetics, and Generation : Reformulation Biology in Lesbian Kinship, u: R. Parkin with L. Stone (eds.), Kinship and Family. An Anthropological Reader, Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford, 2004, 378- 394.