FASoS Colloquium ‘Public engagement with human genetics/genomics’

Title: Public engagement with human genetics/genomics: the ‘participation
problematic’ and beyond by Dr Alexandra Plows

When:
Wednesday 22 January 15:30 – 17:00
Where: Attic (Room 1.003,
Soiron Building)

STS has spent a decade and more being closely
engaged with not only the analysis, but the delivery, of public engagement with
genetics/omics and associated bioscience. Much has been achieved, most notably
around the provision of post “deficit model” (Wynne 1996), highly nuanced forms
of public engagement – “science in society”- which have tackled issues such as
“what public(s) and why?” However the ‘participation problematic’ remains, with
key STS scholars reflexive about their role in (re)producing “the politics of
talk” (Irwin 2006), through their involvement with the governance of science.
Arguably, this can be understood as the ‘post participatory turn’ in STS. The
core of this talk focuses on this ‘participation problematic’, drawing on
ethnographic fieldwork which closely traced different forms of public engagement
with human genetics in the mid/la te 2000’s. A key distinction can be drawn
between public engagement as a specific set of policy practices (the governance
of science) and public engagement/participation as a self- starting social
phenomenon, which of course can itself also be responsive to policy shifts.
Developing this, I also draw on more recent observations of globalised open
source genomics networks to explore ‘hybrid publics’ engaged in ‘participatory
design’ (Callon 2004, Callon & Rahebarisoa 2003).

Dr Alexandra Plows
is an independent researcher and consultant. Her book ‘Debating
Human Genetics: Contemporary Issues in Public Policy and Ethics’ is published by
Routledge
www.alexplows.org

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