'Making Biosociality: Biologies and Identities in Formation'. (360G-Wellcome-078695_Z_05_Z)

Seminar: "Making Biosociality : Biologies and Identities in Formation, London School of Economics, January 6-7, 2006 The need for this gathering arises due to the fact that very little theoretical and empirical work has concentrated upon the ways in which ethics are negotiated in different national contexts. Similarly, there has been little research which has exclusively concentrated on the ethical dimensions of the shaping of identity and patient communities. As a way of trying to engage with the diverse ethical dimensions of contemporary developments in the life sciences, the Making Biosociality seminar will invite speakers to present empirical work addressing four specific themes or areas: (1) What kinds of ethical relations to the self and others are at stake when individuals and groups start to identify themselves in genetic or biological terms (2) what role do institutions ranging from disease advocacy organisations to charity/voluntary organisations, to the state, play in reshaping and renegotiating the form and content of ethics in the life sciences; (3) how, and to what extent, are ethical concerns being embedded in the production of biological knowledge, novel life-forms, and biomedical technologies; and (4), how does the generation of wealth and commercial interests in biology and 'life itself' engender a shift in the content and locales where ethics are deliberated. Through focussing on these topic areas, the seminar aims to capture the ways in which ethics are being made newly significant and productive in the contemporary era of biological control which forces the intersection of issues that are qualitatively distinct in scale and scope to produce what Paul Rabinow terms 'biosocial assemblages'. All participants at the seminar will be encouraged to develop papers in relation to the multiple themes that will be explored at the seminar with the aim of publishing them as part of an edited collection. The objective of the proposed seminar is to bring together a diverse number of scholars who are interested in theoretically and empirically charting the particular social forms through which ethics are negotiated and the ways in which they are embedded in a range of social practices that have come about or are emerging as a result of innovations in genomic knowledge and technology.