Sorry for cross posting
*Call for papers:*
*Open panel: Biotechnologies and Immigration*
*Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) and
the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST)
2012: October 17-20, 2012, Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg,
Denmark*
organised by Torsten Heinemann (Goethe University, Frankfurt), Ilpo
Helén (University of Helsinki), and Thomas Lemke (Goethe University,
Frankfurt)
For a long time immigrants have been subject to a diverse range of
medical and biological examinations. These procedures have been aimed at
the verification of the immigrants’ identities and the protection of
public health. Today biotechnological procedures are widely used in the
context of immigration in many countries around the world, allowing for
more and more sophisticated ways of identification and prevention.
Examples include biometric passports and iris scans to identify
individuals at border controls, DNA and isotopic analysis to prove
claims about asylum seekers’ countries of origin, and parental tests
conducted to verify biological relatedness in family reunification
procedures. Additionally, medical diagnostic rapid tests are used in
international airports to prevent the spread of diseases and protect
citizens of a given country against infectious pandemics.
The use of biotechnologies might help immigration authorities to
increase certainty about immigrants’ identities and health status. It
also allows immigrants to prove claims about their identity, origin, or
family status. At the same time, the tests rely on the contested idea of
a stable and unchanging body that can be addressed as the basis for
identification and medical examination. Also, they produce new forms of
uncertainty and may be seen as a tool of exclusion for unwanted immigrants.
This panel invites papers that explore the use of biotechnologies in
immigration contexts and analyse the complex social, political and
ethical implications of these practices. Proposals should address the
historical development as well as the social, political and ethical
aspects of biotechnologies in immigration contexts.
Please submit your abstract electronically via
<http://convention2.allacademic.com/one/ssss/4s12/> and make sure to
suggest that your paper will fit into open panel 63, "Biotechnologies
and Immigration". You can find more details about the conference on
<http://www.4sonline.org/meeting>.
The deadline for abstract submissions is 18 March 2012. For further
information and details, feel free to contact the organizers:
Torsten Heinemann, <[log in to unmask]>
Ilpo Helén, <[log in to unmask]>
Thomas Lemke, <[log in to unmask]>
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