Replacement parts: The fragmentation and mystification of the body in the human embryonic stem cell debates.

摘要

Developments in human embryonic stem cell technology since their derivation in November of 1998 (Thomson, et al. 1998) have opened up a new world in which a multitude of different kinds of human body components can be isolated and used for commercial, medical, and scientific purposes. Throughout the industrial world these developments have been met with varying responses that range from opposition and criticism to approval and advocacy, and in North America they have provoked a widespread public debate. The purpose of this study is to analyse the rhetoric of the debate surrounding human embryonic stem cells in Canadian and American print news media. I argue throughout this thesis that the rhetoric surrounding the hES cell debates fragments the human body into a series of "replaceable parts" while at the same time mystifying it, and imparting it with symbolic significance.