Event: Selective Reproductive Technologies – Routes of Routinisation and Globalisation

May 14, 2012

International Conference,

13–15 December 2012,

University of Copenhagen, Denmark

In a historical perspective, selective reproduction is nothing new: across the world, infanticide and selective neglect of children have a long history; and the widespread deployment of sterilisation and forced abortion in especially the 20th century is well-documented. But the development and routinisation of increasingly sophisticated biomedical technologies that aim to prevent or promote the birth of particular ‘kinds of children’ has placed selective reproduction under the aegis of science and expertise in novel ways. For social scientists, this development raises a range of questions – questions about how these biomedical technologies are used, regulated, and commercialised; about how public concern and criticism have shaped their use; about the roles they play in personal and political deliberations and imaginings; and about their consequences for the ways we think about individuality and collectivity, responsibility and choice.

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