Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression and has been heralded as one of the most promising new fields of scientific inquiry. Current large-scale pregnancy studies draw on epigenetics to connect pregnant women’s behavioral choices, like diet and exercise, to future health risks for unborn babies. As the first ethnography of its kind, Weighing the Future examines the sociopolitical implications of ongoing pregnancy trials in the United States and the United Kingdom, illuminating how processes of scientific knowledge production are linked to capitalism, surveillance, and environmental reproduction. The environments we imagine to shape our genes, bodies, and future health are tied to race, gender, and structures of inequality. This groundbreaking book makes the case that science, and how we translate it, is a reproductive project that requires feminist vigilance. Instead of fixating on a future at risk, this book brings attention to the present at stake.
By:
Natali Valdez
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: 9
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 20mm
Weight: 363g
ISBN: 9780520380141
ISBN 10: 0520380142
Series: Critical Environments: Nature, Science, and Politics
Pages: 284
Publication Date: 14 December 2021
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Weighing the Future Part I 1. Epistemic Environments: Reproducing Solutions to Past, Present, and Future Maternal Health 2. Un/Altered: The Durability of Individualized Interventions for Multidimensional Illness Part II 3. Politics of Recruitment: How Fatness, Race, and Risk Shape Contemporary Pregnancy Trials 4. Pregnant Narratives: Experiencing Lifestyle Interventions Part III 5. Environmental Animations: What Counts as the Maternal Environment? 6. Prospecting Pregnancies: Data, Time, and Speculative Value Conclusion: The Afterbirth of Foreclosure Epilogue: [The Future] Is Composed of Nows Notes References Index
Natali Valdez is Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at Wellesley College.
Reviews for Weighing the Future: Race, Science, and Pregnancy Trials in the Postgenomic Era
"""A ground-breaking book, both subtle and razor-sharp in its analysis. It provides an immensely valuable critique of the workings of epigenetic foreclosure in pregnancy trials."" * Medical Anthropology Quarterly *"
