ANT Final Flashcards
Bioethics
Refers to the philosophical and normative frameworks guiding medical research and practice, focusing on the rights, interests, and well-being of human subjects.
Biological citizenship
describes forms of belonging, rights claims, and demands for access to resources and care that are made on a biological basis such as an injury, shared genetic status, or disease state
Ethical variability
Refers to the adjustment or recasting of international ethical guidelines in clinical trials to fit specific local contexts. This concept underscores how ethical standards are often modified in ways that facilitate pharmaceutical testing in different socio-political and economic settings
Pharmaceuticalized bodies
Implies a population where individuals are shaped or managed through pharmaceutical interventions, often highlighting the exploitation of treatment-naïve populations in clinical trials to achieve clear drug efficacy results
Treatment naïveté
the condition of individuals or populations who have not been exposed to prior treatments or medications. Such populations are considered ideal for clinical trials because their lack of treatment history minimizes confounding variables, making them highly desirable for testing drug efficacy
Placebo vs. active control trial
a placebo trial involves a group receiving an inactive trial, compared to the real drug to see whether the treatment has an effect or not. This method is preferred for generating clear evidence of efficacy but has ethical concerns when effective treatments already exist.
The active control trial involves comparing the new drug/ treatment to something that already exists. While ethically preferable, these trials may yield less clear data due to external factors like patient history and spontaneous recovery.
Helsinki Declaration
A set of ethical guidelines established by the World Medical Association to govern biomedical research involving human subjects. It emphasizes that research must prioritize the well-being of participants, forbidding placebo use when effective treatments are available unless no proven method exists.
Disposable Kin
This term describes the precarious position of care workers in the global care economy, where they become “like family” through their roles in providing care and emotional labor but are ultimately deemed expendable. At critical junctures—such as retirement or the death of a patient—relationships revert to essentialist notions of kinship (based on blood or marriage), allowing employers, states, and agencies to sever ties and avoid obligations to the worker. This disposability reflects broader inequalities in labor, race, and citizenship
Kinship as being (essential)
This refers to an essentialist view of kinship that is fixed, hierarchical, and rooted in biological connections (e.g., blood relations or formal marriage). It represents a static understanding of kinship that excludes those outside traditional familial structures, particularly migrant care workers, when material or legal consequences (e.g., inheritance or citizenship) are at stake
Kinship as doing (processual)
This concept sees kinship as dynamic and constructed through actions, relationships, and shared experiences, such as co-residence, caregiving, and emotional bonds. It emphasizes the active creation of kinship through ongoing processes, allowing non-relatives, like domestic workers, to become “like family” through their labor and care
Stratified reproduction
refers to the inequalities in reproductive practices, where some groups are supported in their ability to reproduce and raise children, while others are marginalized or discouraged. These disparities often align with social hierarchies of race, class, gender, and citizenship. Highlights how global and local power dynamics shape who is afforded resources and support for reproduction. For instance, affluent groups may receive advanced fertility treatments, while marginalized communities face systemic barriers to reproductive healthcare or policies that limit their reproductive choices
Stratified care work
describes the unequal distribution of caregiving responsibilities and resources, often falling disproportionately on marginalized groups, such as migrant women or racial minorities, who perform care labor for more privileged individuals or families. Care workers are often racialized, underpaid, and excluded from the benefits of kinship and citizenship, reflecting how global care economies depend on exploiting the labor of less powerful groups. Their work is essential yet undervalued, highlighting structural inequalities in who provides and who benefits from care.
Emotional Labour
the process of managing emotions to fulfill the expectations of a job, particularly in roles that involve interpersonal interactions, such as caregiving, nursing, or customer service. e.g. Migrant care workers often develop deep emotional bonds with their clients but are devalued and excluded when their labor is no longer needed. This creates emotional strain as they reconcile their professional roles with personal attachments.
Kinship and Care
caregiving roles can extend beyond biological relationships to create new forms of kinship through caregiving acts, shared experiences, and emotional connections. For instance, domestic workers often become “like family” through caregiving, yet are excluded from material or legal benefits afforded to official kin when employment ends. This dynamic illustrates how care work can create, but also deconstruct, notions of kinship in globalized economies.
The ideology of “hostile worlds/separate spheres”
This ideology reflects the belief that economic transactions (e.g., paid caregiving) and intimate relationships (e.g., familial bonds) should remain separate to preserve the purity of emotional connections and to avoid commodifying care.
Biomedical technologies/ biotechnology
the advanced medical tools and techniques used to manipulate biological processes for health and medical purposes, such as organ transplantation, reproductive technologies (e.g., IVF), and genetic engineering. e.g. organ transplants have reshaped definitions of life and death (e.g., brain death) while raising questions about commodification, access, and inequity. Biotechnology’s ability to “fragment” the body into “spare parts” emphasizes the intersection of medical innovation and social inequalities
bioviolence
exploitation and harm caused by medical and technological advances, where vulnerable populations are subjected to violence, such as selling their organs under coercion or poverty-driven circumstances. The global organ trade, where the poor become victims in a system that commodifies their bodies. For instance, organs from impoverished sellers are often trafficked to wealthier recipients, creating a “medical apartheid” based on wealth and class
organ commodification
the process of treating human organs as marketable goods that can be bought, sold, or traded, rather than as intrinsic, inalienable parts of the human body. highlights structural inequalities in the global organ trade. Wealthier recipients often exploit poor sellers, who are coerced into selling vital organs like kidneys or liver lobes due to economic desperation.
living cadavers
Organ sellers who, after selling vital parts of their body, feel dehumanized and physically diminished, existing in a state between life and death. sellers in Bangladesh, after enduring physical harm, stigma, and loss of dignity, describe themselves as “living cadavers.” This reflects the profound psychological and social toll of commodifying one’s body for survival.
spare parts
the way biomedical technologies treat human bodies as repositories of detachable, reusable components, like kidneys, liver lobes, or corneas, that can be extracted and transplanted. critiques the reduction of human beings to a collection of “parts” for consumption, often benefiting the privileged at the expense of the marginalized. The global flow of these “spare parts” mirrors inequalities, with organs often moving from poor to wealthy populations.
microcredit loans
Small loans offered to help out businesses or escape povery. microcredit loans are linked to the organ trade, as borrowers trapped in high-interest debt often resort to selling their organs to repay loans. This creates a cycle of exploitation, where economic empowerment initiatives unintentionally exacerbate vulnerability.
Autonomy and agency of poor ‘donating’ their organs
The ability of individuals to make free and informed decisions about selling or donating their organs, often constrained by social, economic, and structural inequalities. The article challenges the notion of true autonomy, as many organ sellers are coerced by poverty, misinformation, and exploitation. False promises by brokers and buyers undermine their agency, making their consent to sell organs more a result of desperation than informed choice.
Racialized commodities
Racialized commodities refer to goods, such as human eggs or other reproductive materials, whose value is influenced by racial attributes or perceived racial purity. In the context of the fertility industry, human eggs are often valued based on the donor’s race, with certain racial traits being deemed more desirable and commanding higher prices. This commodification intertwines racial identity with market economics, reinforcing stereotypes and racial hierarchies
Reproductive technology
medical and scientific methods used to assist individuals or couples in achieving pregnancy and childbirth. For example in vitro fertilization (IVF), egg and sperm donation, and gestational surrogacy. These technologies often reflect and reinforce societal and cultural values, including ideas about race, identity, and kinship, particularly when donor traits are selected based on racial preferences
