Mismatched and misaligned: responsibility narratives in American research labs for synthetic biotechnologies
This article examines what responsibility means in the context of synthetic biotechnologies, based on academic researchers in the American west who are using/developing synthetic biology, engineering biology, and synthetic genomics. Advancements in technical capacity are ushering in imminent/current...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Responsible Innovation |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23299460.2024.2355682 |
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| author | Maya Hey |
| author_facet | Maya Hey |
| author_sort | Maya Hey |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article examines what responsibility means in the context of synthetic biotechnologies, based on academic researchers in the American west who are using/developing synthetic biology, engineering biology, and synthetic genomics. Advancements in technical capacity are ushering in imminent/current possibilities of creating whole genomes/organisms from scratch, yet extant narratives about ‘responsibility’ have neither been fleshed out, nor compared against normative frameworks (such as ELSI and its critiques). Through empirical data collection (e.g. discourse analysis), this paper examines interviews with biotechnologists (N = 16) to analyze responsibility narratives on the ground, which include: being responsible towards grand challenges, national values, and research relations involving other beings in the lab, both human and more-than-human. The analyses presented here offer feminist and multispecies critiques for studying the relational webs of responsible (response-able) research and concludes with a discussion about the mismatch between how responsibilities are narrativized across different actors within academic research institutions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1ba4775fbff64995b90d813edd16c97b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2329-9460 2329-9037 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Responsible Innovation |
| spelling | doaj-art-1ba4775fbff64995b90d813edd16c97b2025-01-07T13:48:20ZengTaylor & Francis GroupJournal of Responsible Innovation2329-94602329-90372024-12-0111110.1080/23299460.2024.2355682Mismatched and misaligned: responsibility narratives in American research labs for synthetic biotechnologiesMaya Hey0Department of Sociology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FinlandThis article examines what responsibility means in the context of synthetic biotechnologies, based on academic researchers in the American west who are using/developing synthetic biology, engineering biology, and synthetic genomics. Advancements in technical capacity are ushering in imminent/current possibilities of creating whole genomes/organisms from scratch, yet extant narratives about ‘responsibility’ have neither been fleshed out, nor compared against normative frameworks (such as ELSI and its critiques). Through empirical data collection (e.g. discourse analysis), this paper examines interviews with biotechnologists (N = 16) to analyze responsibility narratives on the ground, which include: being responsible towards grand challenges, national values, and research relations involving other beings in the lab, both human and more-than-human. The analyses presented here offer feminist and multispecies critiques for studying the relational webs of responsible (response-able) research and concludes with a discussion about the mismatch between how responsibilities are narrativized across different actors within academic research institutions.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23299460.2024.2355682Responsibilitynarrativessynthetic biologybottom-up practicesmore-than-humanresponse-ability |
| spellingShingle | Maya Hey Mismatched and misaligned: responsibility narratives in American research labs for synthetic biotechnologies Journal of Responsible Innovation Responsibility narratives synthetic biology bottom-up practices more-than-human response-ability |
| title | Mismatched and misaligned: responsibility narratives in American research labs for synthetic biotechnologies |
| title_full | Mismatched and misaligned: responsibility narratives in American research labs for synthetic biotechnologies |
| title_fullStr | Mismatched and misaligned: responsibility narratives in American research labs for synthetic biotechnologies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mismatched and misaligned: responsibility narratives in American research labs for synthetic biotechnologies |
| title_short | Mismatched and misaligned: responsibility narratives in American research labs for synthetic biotechnologies |
| title_sort | mismatched and misaligned responsibility narratives in american research labs for synthetic biotechnologies |
| topic | Responsibility narratives synthetic biology bottom-up practices more-than-human response-ability |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23299460.2024.2355682 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mayahey mismatchedandmisalignedresponsibilitynarrativesinamericanresearchlabsforsyntheticbiotechnologies |