prof. dr. José van Dijck (hoogleraar Televisie, Media en Cultuur, vakgroep Film- en Televisiewetenschap, Universiteit van Amsterdam), gaf 7 oktober een korte lezing voorafgaand (en naar aanleiding van) de film Gattaca en leidde na afloop een discussie.
prof.
dr. José van Dijk is a professor of Media and Culture at the University
of Amsterdam and chair of the Media Studies department. She recieved a
Ph.D in Comparative Literature and Communications from the University
of California, San Diego. She is the author of Manufacturing Babies and
Public Consent. Debating the New Reproductive Technologies (New York:
New York University Press, 1995) and ImagEnation. Popular Images of Genetics
(New York: New York University Press, 1998). Her latest book is titled
The Transparent Body. A Cultural Analysis of Medical Imaging (Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 2004). Her research areas include media
and science, (digital) media technologies, and television and
culture. Her main field of interest is the popularization of science and
technology through journalism and popular culture.
José van Dijck will give a small lecture prior to the screening of the film Gattaca and afterwards lead a discussion. Date: 7 October 2005
On
Christmas day, 1993, a 59-year-old British woman gave birth to healthy
twins. In Italy the very same week, a black woman bore a white baby, produced
from the semen of her white husband and an egg donated by a white woman.
Heated debates ensued across the United States and Europe.
Fifteen years ago the very idea of conception outside a woman's womb triggered
science fiction fantasies and alarmist speculations. Today, thousands
of babies are manufactured with the help of in-vitro fertilization and
related technologies each year. The application of these procedures has
continuously shifted the boundaries of conception and reproduction.
In the public debate on new reproductive technologies, many voices have
been heard: medical scientists hailing the new technologies as an unprecedented
advance; feminists raising apprehensions about the way in which these
technologies might rob a woman of her reproductive autonomy and bodily
integrity; and ethicists, religious groups, and politicians expressing
concerns about the social and moral implications of the new technologies.
Mapping out the public debate in the three discourses which play the most
significant role in the distribution of public meanings--science, journalism
and fiction--Jos Van Dyck here traces the ways in which this public consent
has been manufactured. This book examines important questions about the
relationship between science, technology and popular culture.
source: NYU press on Manufacturing Babies and Public Consent , debating the New Reproductive Technologies by José Van Dijck (1994)
relevante links:
review The Transparent Body: A Cultural Analysis of Medical Imaging by Jan Baetens (KU Leuven)
