Sahra Gibbon

Jessica Mozersky

Galen Joseph

Andrea zur Nieden

Sonja Palfner

The discovery of the two inherited susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 in the mid-1990s created the possibility of predictive genetic testing and led to the establishment of specific medical programmes for those at high risk of developing breast cancer in the UK, US and Europe. In the intervening fifteen years, the medical institutionalisation of these knowledge-practices and accompanying medical techniques for assessing and managing risk have advanced at a rapid pace across multiple national and transnational arenas, whilst also themselves constituting a highly mobile and shifting terrain. This unique edited collection brings together cross-disciplinary social science research to present a broad global comparative understanding of the implications of BRCA gene research and medical practices. With a focus on time-economies that unfold locally, nationally and transnationally (including in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, the UK and the USA), the essays in this volume facilitate a re-reading of concepts such as prevention, kinship and heredity, and together offer a unique, timely and comparative perspective on these developments. The book provides a coherent structure for examining the diversity of practices and discourses that surround developments linked to BRCA genetics, and to the evolving field of genetics more broadly. It will be of interest to students and scholars of anthropology, sociology, history of science, STS, public health and bioethics. Chapter 8 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at www.tandfebooks.com/openaccess. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license.

Transnational Perspectives in the Time of BRCA

Breast Cancer Gene Research and Medical Practices

Ashkenazi Jews have the highest known population risk of carrying specific mutations in the high-risk breast cancer genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. So what does it mean to be told you have an increased risk of genetic breast cancer because you are of Ashkenazi Jewish origin? In a time of ever-increasing knowledge about variations in genetic disease risk among different populations, there is a pressing need for research regarding the implications of such information for members of high-risk populations. Risky Genes provides first-hand intimate descriptions of women's experiences of being Jewish and of being at increased risk of genetic breast cancer. It explores the impact this knowledge has on their identity and understanding of belonging to a collective. Using qualitative data from high-risk Ashkenazi women in the UK, this book elucidates the importance of biological discourses in forging Jewish self-identity and reveals the complex ways in which biological and social understandings of Jewish belonging intersect. In Risky Genes, Jessica Mozersky reflects upon and offers new insight into the ongoing debates regarding the implications of genetic research for populations, and of new genetic knowledge for individual and collective identity. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, anthropology, Jewish studies, medical genetics, medical ethics, religious studies, and race and ethnic studies.

Jessica Mozersky

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