20 RüdigerKunow
the biological, is doomed to be reductionist at best and inaccurate at
worst" (Davis and Morris 411). "Synthetic" is clearly the appropriate
key term here because what the transversal dialogues initiated by
biocultures are aiming at is a kind of "informed" consent shared by
humanists and scientists alike: "it is crucial not just for scholars in the
humanities [sic] to know the impact that science has on culture and the
body, but also for scientists... to think broadly about the political,
cultural,andsocialimplicationsofwhattheydo"(L.J.Davis,"Identity"
B9).
Whether such a conference table model is a viable way of tracing
impact and result of the biotization of culture must remain doubtful at
best, especially at a time when rapid advances in the life sciences,
especially in genomics, have triggered profound changes in the
understanding of life and death, of nature and humanity's place in it. If
the cultural side of biocultures is understood merely as offering cultural
counselingtoscientistsorasprovidingtheethicscomponentrequiredin
federal grant applications in the U.S.,^14 then the biocultures project will
run the risk of merely "reinforcing the structural problematic that too
often governs disciplinary relations in the academy: the sciences are
rich, the humanities [sic] poor.. ." (Clayton et al. 952). The same
argumentcanbemadewithregardtothenearlyendlessattempts—often
undertakeninthecontextoftheMedicalHumanities—toconvincehard-
nosed scientists or medical practitioners that literature is good for them
(forexamplesseeBirkleix-xi;Holloway162-64).
Hence, in order for biocultures to be a viable research orientation,
carefulreflectionisneededonwhichformsofexpertiseparticulartothe
Humanities can be utilized to interrogate research projects in the
sciences. This is clearly made more difficult by the fact that already
inside the Humanities the debate about what forms of knowledge are
being produced there is far from over. Priscilla Wald thus sounds a
cautionary note: "The turn to biology [in the Humanities] should be
understood in the context of broader discussions of what literary critics
might add to human beings' collective understanding of their lived
14
The reference here is to the "Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications" (ELSI)
requirement. For an up-to-date review of this complex cf. the National Human
GenomeResearchInstitute'sELSIProgramofApril2016.