Biological relatives: IVF, stem cells, and the future of kinship

375 Pages·2013·1.856 MB·English

by  Franklin, Sarah

Biological Relatives
ExpErimEntal FuturEs: Technological Lives, Scientific Arts, Anthropological Voices
A series edited by Michael M. J. Fischer and Joseph Dumit
SaRah FRanklin Biological Relatives
iVF, Stem Cells,
and the
Future of kinship
Duke University Press Durham and London 2013
© 2013 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper ♾
Cover designed by Amy Ruth Buchanan. Interior by Courtney Leigh Baker
Typeset in Whitman and Din by Tseng Information Systems, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Franklin, Sarah, 1960–
Biological relatives : ivF, stem cells, and the future of kinship / Sarah Franklin.
pages cm—(Experimental futures)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978- 0- 8223- 5485- 7 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978- 0- 8223- 5499- 4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Fertilization in vitro, Human—Social aspects. 2. Kinship—Philosophy. 
3. Feminist anthropology. i. Title. ii. Series: Experimental futures.
rg135.F74 2013
618.1′780599—dc23 2013018962
To Pat Spallone, who stayed
with the rouble, and has always
found the words.

ContentS Acknowledgments ix
introduction
Relatively Biological 1
1 Miracle Babies 31
2 Living Tools 68
3 Embryo Pioneers 102
4 Reproductive Technologies 150
5 Living ivF 185
6 ivF Live 221
7 Frontier Culture 258
8 After ivF 297
aFtErword 311
Notes 313
References 333
Index 351

aCknowledgmentS
Funding for the research conducted in the book was generously provided
by the Economic and Social Research Council (Stem Cell Initiative) and the
Wellcome Trust (Medical Humanities). Without the long- standing support
and encouragement of Professor Peter Braude, none of the fieldwork for this
project could have been undertaken in the new labs at Guy’s Hospital in Lon-
don. Dr. Dusko Ilic, the current head of the iPS cell core facility at Guy’s, and
Dr. Emma Stephenson, who is responsible for the design, setup, and running
of the stem cell laboratory at Guy’s, were both generous with their time and
patient with their explanations of the work they do. Glenda Cornwell, Dr. Ya-
coub Khalef, Dr. Alison Lashwood, and Dr. Victoria Wood have been unfail-
ingly helpful over many years as my research migrated from pgd to stem cells.
In particular I would like to thank the artist Gina Glover for not only provid-
ing a thoughtful and inspiring account of her installation project, The Art of
A.R.T., in the Guy’s Assisted Conception Unit, but also for allowing the images
to be reproduced in this volume, courtesy of both www.ginaglover.com and
www.artinhospitals. I am indebted to the many individuals who read parts of
this manuscript, including Karin Lesnik- Oberstein, Nick Hopwood, Christina
Brandt, Donna Haraway, Stevienna De Saille, Barbara Orland, and Zeynep
Gurtin, and to all of the audiences who heard parts of it presented, in places
too numerous to list. In addition to the three external reviewers who read the
manuscript in its entirety, and gave detailed and helpful feedback, I am espe-
cially grateful to Sara Ahmed and Marilyn Strathern, who read the complete
manuscript-i n-p rogress and offered essential encouragement as well as con-
structive advice for revision at critical points in the development of Biological
Relatives. Thanks to Emily Martin, Mary Poovey, and Troy Duster, who hosted
me in the Institute for the History of the Production of Knowledge during my
research leave in 2008–2009 at nyu. Throughout the writing of this manu-