Weighing the Future

Race, Science, and Pregnancy Trials in the Postgenomic Era
1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-0-520-38014-1
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, Band 9, 284 Seiten, Trade Paperback, Format (B × H): 149 mm x 225 mm, Gewicht: 376 g

Reihe: Critical Environments: Nature, Science, and Politics

Epigenetics, the study of heritable changes in gene expression, has been heralded as one of the most promising new fields of scientific inquiry. Current large-scale studies selectively draw on epigenetics to connect behavioral choices made by pregnant people, such as diet and exercise, to health risks for future generations. As the first ethnography of its kind, Weighing the Future examines the sociopolitical implications of ongoing pregnancy trials in the United States and the United Kingdom, illuminating how processes of scientific knowledge production are linked to capitalism, surveillance, and environmental reproduction. Natali Valdez argues that a focus on individual behavior rather than social environments ignores the vital impacts of systemic racism. The environments we imagine to shape our genes, bodies, and future health are intimately tied to race, gender, and structures of inequality. This groundbreaking book makes the case that science, and how we translate it, is a reproductive project that requires feminist vigilance. Instead of fixating on a future at risk, this book brings attention to the present at stake.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Valdez, Natali

Fachgebiete

• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Medizin, Gesundheit: Sachbuch, Ratgeber
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Biomedizin, Medizinische Forschung, Klinische Studien
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Gesundheitssoziologie, Medizinsoziologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Genetik und Genomik (nichtmedizinisch)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Introduction: Weighing the Future

   Part I
1. Epistemic Environments: Reproducing Solutions
   to Past, Present, and Future Maternal Health

2. Un/Altered: The Durability of Individualized
   Interventions for Multidimensional Illness

   Part II
3. Politics of Recruitment: How Fatness, Race,
   and Risk Shape Contemporary Pregnancy Trials
   
4. Pregnant Narratives: Experiencing Lifestyle
   Interventions
   
   Part III
5. Environmental Animations: What Counts
   as the Maternal Environment?

6. Prospecting Pregnancies: Data, Time,
   and Speculative Value
   
   Conclusion: The Afterbirth of Foreclosure
   Epilogue: [The Future] Is Composed of Nows
   
   Notes
   References
   Index

Über Autor(innen)

Natali Valdez is Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at Wellesley College.