Citizen-Person: The “Me” in the “We” in Danish Precision Medicine

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningfagfællebedømt

The genome has become a crucial component in precision medicine aimed at tailoring medical treatment to the individual. To the extent that social science studies of genomics have explored questions related to the individual, these studies have focused on how the governance regarding genomes facilitates individuals’ rights, choices, and responsibilities. By contrast, we approach genomic governance by investigating how enactments of the person in precision medicine actualize practices of reciprocity and belonging in a national collective. Based on document analysis and ethnographic fieldwork in Denmark, we show that genomes are treated simultaneously as digital representations of individuals, social resources for a welfare state population, and emblems of public trust. By drawing on classical and contemporary anthropological theories of personhood, we unfold how Danish precision medicine prescribes a moral continuity between person, state, and territory. We argue that Danish precision medicine revitalizes a national politics of belonging and generates socio-spatial orientations through which the “me” of the person shares origin and place with the “we” of the welfare state.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftScience Technology and Human Values
Vol/bind48
Udgave nummer5
Sider (fra-til) 1176-1198
Antal sider23
ISSN0162-2439
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2023

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Carlsberg Foundation (Semper Ardens, grant no. CF17-0016). The TRANSLATE project discussed in the paper is supported by Innovation Fund Denmark (grant no. 9090-00078B).

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.

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