*STS Circle at Harvard* *[image: line.gif] * * * *Ruha Benjamin* *Sociology, Boston University* * * on
*A Lab of Their Own: Genomic sovereignty as post-colonial science policy? * ** Monday, April 18th 12:15-2:00 p.m. 124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 100, Room 106 [image: line.gif] Lunch is provided if you RSVP. Please RSVP to sts <[email protected]>@hks.harvard.edu<[email protected]> by 5pm Thursday, April 14th. * * *Abstract:* In this talk I consider the impact and meaning of ‘genomic sovereignty’ as an emergent science policy frame in postcolonial contexts. I identify three strands in the organization of this policy arena: the International Haplotype Mapping Project as a model and foil for postcolonial genomics; a public health genomics field which stands in contrast to Western pursuits of personalized medicine; and Big Pharma's increased focus on ethnic drug markets. I conceptualize postcolonial genomics as a nationalist project with competing tendencies: unifying and differentiating a diverse body politic; cultivating scientific and commercial autonomy; and dependence upon global knowledge networks and foreign capital. I suggest that the ‘strategic calibration’ of socio-political and genetic taxonomies creates two interrelated challenges -- dilemmas of mapping and marketing -- for actors in this field. *Biography*: Ruha Benjamin received her PhD in Sociology from UC Berkeley (2008), and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA’s Center for Society & Genetics (2010). Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of science, medicine, and biotechnology; history and social studies of race and gender; science policy, public health, and critical social theory. She is currently completing a book, *People’s Science*, which examines ethnoracial, gender, class, and disability politics as a constitutive feature of stem cell research. Drawn from this larger project, "Organized Ambivalence: When Sickle Cell Disease and Stem Cell Research Converge" is forthcoming in the journal Ethnicity & Health later this year. She has also recently started a second project that examines the geneticization of populations in three countries (India, Mexico, and South Africa), and which forms the basis for this STS Circle talk. A complete list of STS Circle at Harvard events can be found on our website: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sts/events/sts_circle/ Follow us on Facebook: STS@Harvard <http://www.facebook.com/HarvardSTS> --------------------------------- Samuel A. Evans, DPhil Postdoctoral Fellow & Chair of the STS Circle Harvard University Program on Science, Technology, & Society Kennedy School of Government http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sts +1 (617) 496-0807
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