scholarly journals Menopause, local biologies, and cultures of aging

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 494-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Lock ◽  
Patricia Kaufert
Keyword(s):  
Local Biologies

Exposed Biologies

Good Quality ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayo Wahlberg
Keyword(s):  
Water Pollution ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Side Effects ◽  
Side Effect ◽  
Disorders Of Sex Development ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Sperm Bank ◽  
Sex Development ◽  
Contaminated Food ◽  
Local Biologies

Smog-choked cities, cancer villages, and contaminated food have become iconic problems of a modernizing China—the tragic, perhaps unavoidable, side effects of a voracious economy. Chapter 3 examines how the sperm bank—jingziku—in China has emerged quite literally as a sanctuary of vitality amid concerns around food safety, air and water pollution, rising infertility, and declining population quality. As a twist on Margaret Lock’s concept of “local biologies,” the chapter argues that exposed biologies have become a matter of concern in China in ways that have corroborated a place for high-tech sperm banks within China’s restrictive reproductive complex. Exposed biologies are a side effect of modernization processes, as industrially manufactured chemicals are increasingly held culpable for a range of pathologies, from cancers andmetabolic diseases to disorders of sex development and infertility.

Sex differentiation and body fat: Local biologies and gender transgressions

2010 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-391
Author(s):  
Petra Jonvallen
Keyword(s):  
Medical Research ◽  
Body Fat ◽  
Sex Differentiation ◽  
Modern Medicine ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The One ◽  
Local Biologies ◽  
Monitoring Devices

This article examines how sex differentiation is invoked from body fat with a focus on how various monitoring devices participate in the construction of bodies. By using the concept of ‘local biologies’, denoting the linkage of the body to place with its local physical and social conditions, it argues against the ‘one-size-fits-all’ paradigm of modern medicine and critiques the mechanistic search for regularity in medical research. By looking at medical literature on obesity and how contemporary obesity researchers and clinicians link body fat to sex, local biologies of bodies in a Swedish obesity clinic are contrasted to the universal biologies represented in medical research. The article also provides empirical examples of how fat has the potential to undermine traditional sex and gender binaries.

The Production of Local Biologies

2007 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Littleton
Keyword(s):  
Local Biologies

scholarly journals Exposed Biologies and the Banking of Reproductive Vitality in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayo Wahlberg
Keyword(s):  
Water Pollution ◽  
Side Effects ◽  
Metabolic Diseases ◽  
Sperm Quality ◽  
Disorders Of Sex Development ◽  
Sperm Banking ◽  
Sperm Bank ◽  
Sex Development ◽  
Contaminated Food ◽  
Local Biologies

The looming figures of smog-choked cities, cancer villages and contaminated food have become iconic of a modernising China: the tragic, perhaps unavoidable, side effects of a voracious economy. In this article, I examine how the sperm bank—jingzi ku—in China has emerged quite literally as a sanctuary of vitality amidst concerns around food safety, air and water pollution, rising infertility and declining population quality. As a twist on Margaret Lock’s concept of ‘local biologies’, I argue that ‘exposed biologies’ have become a matter of concern in China in ways that have corroborated a place for hi-tech sperm banks within China’s restrictive reproductive complex. Exposed biologies are a side effect of modernisation processes, as industrially manufactured chemicals are increasingly held culpable for a range of pathologies, from cancers to metabolic diseases, disorders of sex development and infertility. Amidst concerns that pollution and modern lifestyles are deteriorating sperm quality in China, the sperm bank stands out as a repository of screened, purified and quality-controlled vitality, and as such sperm banking can be seen as a form of reproductive insurance, not only for individuals but also for the nation.

scholarly journals Dr. Ram’s triage

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew McDowell
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Cutting Edge ◽  
Social Difference ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Local Biologies

Triage is a process of categorizing potential health and guiding care. It is based on the idea that all bodies are equal while potential vitality is not. I examine the triage processes used by Indian physicians as they collaborated with global health researchers to identify patients for a free, cutting-edge tuberculosis test. As I argue, triage forms and reforms social difference within global health despite its aspirations of standardization and experimentality. Problematizing triage as part of global health’s ordinary affect of affordability reveals local biologies, class biopolitics, and clinical speculation in the field. I conclude by considering new avenues of ethnographic inquiry that are opened by attending to the practiced and depoliticized biopolitics that occurs within clinics as everyday, nonreflexive decisions about how to organize resources and speculate on vitalities.

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