Biology Unmoored: Melanesian Reflections on Life and Biotechnology

摘要

In grounding sociality in processes other than biological reproduction, in viewing relatedness in terms other than that of shared biological substance, in envisioning human relations as emerging directly from individual interactions with the nonhuman world, and in viewing persons as an instance of reproducing "certain identities and social relations through time" (p. 172), Kamea conceptions of the world and their place in it are viewed as further able to unsettle deeply held assumptions that underpin "Western" cultural logic. Whether readers oí Biology Unmoored are convinced, critical, or repelled by what some may view to be Bamford's unrepentant relativism, there is one thing for certain: they will come away with a definite appreciation for the complexities inherent in these issues and for the important role that anthropology has to play in helping to make sense of the new fields of knowledge, practice, and sociality that are evoked in the wake of biotechnological innovations and the social and cultural repercussions they entail.