Date of Submission

Spring 2017

Academic Programs and Concentrations

Sociology

Project Advisor 1

Lauraleen Ford

Abstract/Artist's Statement

The Human Genome Project was the center of much controversy in the 1990's, as creating a map of the human genome drew into question the boundaries between nature and nurture, or science and society. Fifteen years have now passed since the Human Genome Project's completion, and the new paradigm of genetics is no longer governed by a strict nature/nurture dualism. This project looks at one of the Human Genome Project's successors: the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project, which has created new boundaries and limitations in this new phase of genetic thinking. Using a frame analysis and Actor-Network Theory approach to follow how ENCODE has formed and reformed over the years, this project traces the ENCODE project as a new way of translating genetic code from the cell to the world around it, and ultimately back into the cell. Throughout these processes, the ENCODE project brings into question the meaning of human, creates a platform for viewing the genome as a moldable substance, and ultimately presents itself as the end of human disease.

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Open Access

Creative Commons License

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