Reproductive Technologies, Gender and Society
FGSS 250
Fall 2006
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
SOC 251, SISP 250 |
In this course we will examine the effects of human reproductive technologies for women, families, and society. In the developed and developing world, people are increasingly turning to reproductive and procreative technologies--such as clinical insemination, ova extraction with IVF (in vitro fertilization), a range of prenatal, fetal scanning and surveillance technologies, as well as genetic manipulation procedures--all to create biogenetically related children and families. Some critics argue that the age of human cloning and designer babies has already arrived, and society, for better or worse, simply needs to "catch up." Others think society has been excluded from voicing an opinion of this most fundamental phenomenon, one that affects us all, and which scientists and entrepreneurs have commandeered for prestige and profit. In short, medicalized, technologized reproduction is becoming both a cultural imperative and a realized practice. What this means for our understanding, and therefore practices, regarding the individual (self), sexual difference (gender), family and kinship, and the lifeworld as such, will be the subject of our investigations. The course is organized around three subject areas, beginning with a general section on technology and society. This is followed by a section focusing particularly on feminist and critical theories of reproductive technologies. The last section addresses the specific contemporary (and future) empirical and theoretical consequences of increasingly technologized and commodified human reproduction. The subject matter of this course covers a range of issues that should be of interest to students of sociology, anthropology, women's studies, philosophy, and science and technology. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Writing |
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS SOC |
| Course Format: Lecture/Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Texts:
Shelley, Mary, FRANKENSTEIN
Edwards, Jeanette, et al, editor, TECHNOLOGIES OF PROCREATION
Rothman, Barbara Katz, RECREATING MOTHERHOOD
Selections from:
Marcuse, Herbert, ONE DIMENSIONAL MAN
Ellul, Jacques, THE TECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Winner, Langdon, IN THE WHALE AND THE REACTOR
Rifkin, Jeremy, THE BIOTECH CENTURY: HARNESSING THE GENE AND REMAKING THE WORLD
Grobstein, Clifford, FROM CHANCE TO PURPOSE: AN APPRAISAL OF EXTERNAL HUMAN FERTILIZATION
Strathern, Marilyn, REPRODUCING THE FUTURE: ANTHROPOLOGY, KINSHIP, AND THE NEW REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES
Darnovsky, Marcy, (2000), The Case Against Designer Babies: The Politics of Genetic Enhancement. Forthcoming in Redesigning Life? The Worldwide Challenge to Genetic Engineering, ed. Brian Tokar, Zed Books (Author permission to reproduce granted.)
Playing Dolly: Technocultural Formations, Fantasies, and Fictions of Assisted Reproduction, ed. E. Ann Kaplan and Susan Squier
Corea, Gena, THE MOTHER MACHINE, New York: Harper and Row (ISBN: 0-06-091325-8)
Franklin, Sarah, EMBODIED PROGRESS: A CULTURAL ACCOUNT OF ASSISTED CONCEPTION
Rapp, Rayna, "Refusing Prenatal Diagnosis: The Uneven Meanings of Bioscience in a Multicultural World." In Cyborg Babies: From Techno-Sex to Techno-Tots, ed. Robbie Davis-Flloyd and Joseph Dumit
Farquhar, Dion, THE OTHER MACHINE
Ginsburg, Fay D. and Rapp, Rayna, eds., CONCEIVING THE NEW WORLD ORDER
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Examinations and Assignments:
TBA |
| Instructor(s): Sullivan,Maureen Elizabeth Times: ..T.R.. 02:40PM-04:00PM; Location: ZLKA106; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 25 | | SR major: 4 | JR major: 5 | | |
| Seats Available: 3 | GRAD: 0 | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 5 | SO: 5 | FR: 3 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 6 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 1 | 3rd Ranked: 1 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 4 |
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