Project overview
Biomedical science has advanced very rapidly in the first part of the 21st century in the field of epigenetics, which is the science of how the DNA of our genes interacts with our environment, especially during our early development. Epigenetics has led to a questioning of the widely-held belief that 'genes for' certain characteristics, and even for risk of disease, underlie the differences between individuals, in health or disease.
The implications of this new epigenetic insight for our concepts of individuality, plasticity and inheritance are profound and urgently need wider discussion at this time. These new concepts are beginning to filter through to the wider public, via articles in high-profile magazines such as Nature and Time Magazine, and are capturing the attention of a number of contemporary writers in fiction and poetry.
In this project we will undertake an exploration of the interactions which are already taking place between the humanities and biomedicine in relation to this paradigm shift, as a way of providing a platform for future cross-disciplinary work in this area. The project will bring together two leading epigeneticists, Mark Hanson and Karen Temple, with two prominent theorists of contemporary literature, Clare Hanson and Peter Middleton, who work on medical humanities and other interrelations between science and literature.
Together these four thinkers, with the help of a research assistant, will organise a workshop for representative researchers and scholars with a stake in the public understanding of this new science. We will address two themes: the implications of the metaphorical shift from genetics to epigenetics, and the ways in which epigenetics opens up new concepts of inheritance.
The workshop participants will include sociologists of human development, literary critics working on fictions of the body and identity, historians of poetry and science, molecular biologists, medical researchers, a professor of public understanding of science (possibly David Spiegelhalter), a prominent novelist (possibly Jeanette Winterson), a poet, and others with a record of interest in this field.
The dialogue will continue through web-based interactions and will be highlighted in a larger conference, open to a wider range of interest groups, postgraduate students, the public and the media. There will be a special issue of a journal (we have ties with Textual Practice and Contemporary Women's Writing).
Throughout, we will involve creative writers in the dialogue, with the objective of stimulating new writing and approaches to exploring the area. The project will have wider impact through such work, but also through promotion of the public understanding of this aspect of biomedical science, facilitating a more robust dialogue between biologists, doctors, social and cultural theorists, and those who work in the arts and humanities, about the full implications of these new insights
Planned Impact
The project will provide a new forum for discussion of the implications of the transition from genetic to epigenetics in biomedical science. In bringing together researchers from a range of disciplines it will generate new insights into the far-reaching implications of this new style of thought, and will benefit academics in a variety of fields (biomedicine, medical humanities, literary and cultural theory, history and philosophy of science).
The project is only the beginning of what we envisage will be an on-going process of dialogue and debate, through both academic and public channels after July 2012. However, we will maximise the impact of the project in the shorter term by a series of activities aimed at taking the discussion beyond academia and involving potential beneficiaries of its outcomes.
The results of our discussions on the use of metaphor will feed into public understanding of science activities, of which several potential participants have extensive experience, so that the immediacy and social and cultural relevance of epigenetic research will be disseminated to a wider public. In relation to the discussion of inheritance, we will involve civil society organisations and groups, for example those concerned with assisted reproduction issues, adoption, fostering, and health issues including congenital disease.
We will also engage with students of school age and beyond, through Southampton's well-developed network of educational programmes, including Lifelong Learning. Via the involvement of creative writers, we hope to stimulate an appreciation of the wider personal and cultural implications of epigenetics, and envisage that online or print publication of this work will engage a wide audience, since questions of inheritance and origins are providing fertile ground for new writing. The website will be constructed so that non-academic visitors can understand the basic issues and learn more about the new epigenetics, and why it matters for understanding many issues in everyday life.
The implications of this new epigenetic insight for our concepts of individuality, plasticity and inheritance are profound and urgently need wider discussion at this time. These new concepts are beginning to filter through to the wider public, via articles in high-profile magazines such as Nature and Time Magazine, and are capturing the attention of a number of contemporary writers in fiction and poetry.
In this project we will undertake an exploration of the interactions which are already taking place between the humanities and biomedicine in relation to this paradigm shift, as a way of providing a platform for future cross-disciplinary work in this area. The project will bring together two leading epigeneticists, Mark Hanson and Karen Temple, with two prominent theorists of contemporary literature, Clare Hanson and Peter Middleton, who work on medical humanities and other interrelations between science and literature.
Together these four thinkers, with the help of a research assistant, will organise a workshop for representative researchers and scholars with a stake in the public understanding of this new science. We will address two themes: the implications of the metaphorical shift from genetics to epigenetics, and the ways in which epigenetics opens up new concepts of inheritance.
The workshop participants will include sociologists of human development, literary critics working on fictions of the body and identity, historians of poetry and science, molecular biologists, medical researchers, a professor of public understanding of science (possibly David Spiegelhalter), a prominent novelist (possibly Jeanette Winterson), a poet, and others with a record of interest in this field.
The dialogue will continue through web-based interactions and will be highlighted in a larger conference, open to a wider range of interest groups, postgraduate students, the public and the media. There will be a special issue of a journal (we have ties with Textual Practice and Contemporary Women's Writing).
Throughout, we will involve creative writers in the dialogue, with the objective of stimulating new writing and approaches to exploring the area. The project will have wider impact through such work, but also through promotion of the public understanding of this aspect of biomedical science, facilitating a more robust dialogue between biologists, doctors, social and cultural theorists, and those who work in the arts and humanities, about the full implications of these new insights
Planned Impact
The project will provide a new forum for discussion of the implications of the transition from genetic to epigenetics in biomedical science. In bringing together researchers from a range of disciplines it will generate new insights into the far-reaching implications of this new style of thought, and will benefit academics in a variety of fields (biomedicine, medical humanities, literary and cultural theory, history and philosophy of science).
The project is only the beginning of what we envisage will be an on-going process of dialogue and debate, through both academic and public channels after July 2012. However, we will maximise the impact of the project in the shorter term by a series of activities aimed at taking the discussion beyond academia and involving potential beneficiaries of its outcomes.
The results of our discussions on the use of metaphor will feed into public understanding of science activities, of which several potential participants have extensive experience, so that the immediacy and social and cultural relevance of epigenetic research will be disseminated to a wider public. In relation to the discussion of inheritance, we will involve civil society organisations and groups, for example those concerned with assisted reproduction issues, adoption, fostering, and health issues including congenital disease.
We will also engage with students of school age and beyond, through Southampton's well-developed network of educational programmes, including Lifelong Learning. Via the involvement of creative writers, we hope to stimulate an appreciation of the wider personal and cultural implications of epigenetics, and envisage that online or print publication of this work will engage a wide audience, since questions of inheritance and origins are providing fertile ground for new writing. The website will be constructed so that non-academic visitors can understand the basic issues and learn more about the new epigenetics, and why it matters for understanding many issues in everyday life.
Staff
Lead researcher
Other researchers
Collaborating research institutes, centres and groups
Research outputs
Clare Hanson,
2015, Textual Practice, 29(3)
Type: article