A Foucaultian reading of genetic science : archaeologizing the science of the gene
Author
Çevik, Neslihan Kevser
Advisor
Wigley, Simon
Date
2003Publisher
Bilkent University
Language
English
Type
ThesisItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
In recent decades the problems posed by modern genetics has increasingly
become a subject of debate within the social sciences. Those debates lead us to
ask whether genetics is strictly a scientific endeavor. That begs a further
question which forms the focus of this study: What else is modern genetics
besides being a scientific concern? The aim of the thesis, therefore, is to begin to
ask what genetic science really is. In order to achieve that goal the thesis seeks to
examine gene technology through Foucaultian eyes. With that in mind Chapter I
sketches an interpretation of Michel Foucault’s theoretical position. On the basis
of that chapter, it can be argued that he conceives of power as the painstaking
control of the life conditions of the body. Such a conceptualization of power
interprets the government of the body both in terms of the tactics of domination
and in terms of the techniques of the self. Chapter 2, by showing the way in
which he applied this conceptualization to historical experiences provides us
ii
with an intriguing perspective through which to consider what modern genetics
is. That archaeological approach conceives the constitution of new modalities of
power in terms of dislocations and discursive transformations. Chapter 3 seeks to
apply that interpretation of Foucault to modern genetics. As a result of such a
reading, it is argued that modern genetics is not only a scientific concern, but
also a new technique of the self (ethopolitics) and a new tactic of domination
(molecular politics.)
Keywords
Michel FoucaultMolecular norm and Genetico-medical discourse
Molecular perfection
This study also provides new conceptualizations for further studies such as
Homo-ethopoliticus
Ethopolitics
Molecular politics
Submicroscopic level
Somatic individual
Molecular risk
Genetic Counseling
Genetic Science
Archaeology
Self
Discourse
Gaze-power
Knowledge-power
Eugenics