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| American Medicine and Only for You
S. Eben Kirksey, Ph.D. DATE: June 17, 2019
A boutique hospital in Shenzhen with a futuristic aesthetic granted Jiankui He ethical approval to proceed with his CRISPR experiment. Scenes from this high-tech medical center offer a clear vision of a near future when gene editing could be used to rework cosmetic traits associated with race, social privilege, and beauty. A blond woman strikes a bold navasana yoga pose in a hospital brochure, against a photoshopped background of boats sailing into the sunset. They specialize in “American-style medicine” offering treatments for infertility, as well as obstetrics, and cosmetic surgery. Doctors here routinely perform skin lightening treatments, Asian eyelid surgery, and facial reconstructions modeled on Korean celebrities and Italian fashion icons. But the hospital has distanced themselves from Dr. He, claiming that he faked the documents showing their ethical approval. Stereotypes in science fiction about rogue Asian scientists, from Dr. Fu Manchu to Dr. X in Neil Stephenson’s Snowcrash, will set the stage for my accounts of everyday life in this hospital. I will describe Dr. He’s connections to the hospital as well as other Chinese and American collaborators—showing that he was not acting alone. Bio: Eben Kirksey is an American anthropologist who specializes on science and justice. He is perhaps best known for his field-defining work on multispecies ethnography. Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study is hosting Kirksey in the 2019-2020 academic year, where he is conducting research on gene editing, the innovation economy, and social inequality. Duke University Press has published his two books—Freedom in Entangled Worlds (2012) and Emergent Ecologies (2015)—as well as one edited collection: The Multispecies Salon (2014). Associate Professor Kirksey holds a long-term research position at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. |
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