Biopower and Life Assemblages: Genetic Carrier Testing in India, China and Japan

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with the ways in which genetic knowledge in various Asian societies is part of varying life assemblages, conditioned by specific constellations of power. In Chapter 2 we saw how in life assemblages in China, India and Japan, apart from state-level pressures, community- and family-based interferences may be of great influence on the reproductive decision-making of women and couples. This chapter observes how these lower-level pressures affect practices of genetic screening, carrier testing and genetic testing, which also have implications for reproductive capacity and decision-making. The chapter further examines the question of how concepts of genetic identity are created through Asian life assemblages, and how these relate to the notion of biopower, which was developed largely in a European context of ‘biobureaucratic institutions’.