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Dr. Bettina Bock v. Wülfingen
Academic assistant (assistant professor) at the Institute for Cultural
Studies of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; second book project
“Economies and the Cell – Conception and Heredity Around 1900
and 2000“; founder member and co-manager of the EU-COST
Action “Bio-objects and Their Boundaries” (running from 2010 to
2014) and of the research network “Economies of Reproduction”
(www.economies-of-reproduction.org;
funded
by
the
German
Research Foundation from 2010 to 2012).
CV:
At the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin since 1/2007, first as postdoc at the Post Graduate
Research Group „Gender as a Category of Knowledge“ and since 10/2008 as academic
assistant (assist. prof.) at the Institute for Cultural Studies of the Humboldt-Universität zu
Berlin; teaching in Cultural Studies and Gender Studies;
2004-2007 visiting research fellow at the Department for the History of Public Health,
University of California in San Francisco/USA; at the Department for the History of Public
Health, University of California in San Francisco/USA; at the Science and Technology
Studies Unit (SATSU), University of York/Great Britain (as EU Marie Curie Fellow); at the
Institute for Advanced Studies of Science and Technology Studies, Graz/Austria; at the
BIOS, London School of Economics/Great Britain;
Dissertation in Public Health, University of Bremen/Germany 2006 (summa cum laude);
studies in biology (diploma, grade ‘excellent’), philosophy, history and political sciences in
Regensburg/Germany, Córdoba/Argentine and Bremen/Germany.
Research interests:
Cultural history of knowledge in the life sciences; history, philosophy and sociology of
science; history of (biological) sex, gender and sexuality; history of reproduction and heredity
(i.a. gamets, virus, hormones, conception); changes of the notion of health and illness;
methods in science and the humanities.
Second book project:
“Economies and the cell – conception and heredity around 1900 und 2000“
This project follows the idea that the relationship between conception, growth and
development on one hand and heredity on the other is conceived corresponding to the
historically contingent concepts of economy of the respective times.
Accordingly, the idea of the (gendered) division of labor in a productive and a reproductive
force as discussed since the 1850s latest, enters the cell around 1900: many models of
heredity started to attribute a productive part to the nucleus and a reproductive part to the
cell plasma (which goes hand in hand with the contemporaneous talk about a supposed split
between early genetics and other scientific fields that work on reproduction).
In contrast, the end of the 20th century proclaims the end of the separation of economic labor
division into production and reproduction. Contemporary analyses indicate a falling together
of production and reproduction. This can be aligned with the modeling in fields such as stem
cell research, synthetic biology and especially reproductive genetics, which supposedly
appear to bring together genetics/genomics and the reproductive sciences.
Publications (articles since 2009, selection):
Bock v. Wülfingen, B.: “The fruit of love – a discourse analysis exploring the transformation of
imaginative spaces in the geneticization of conception”, in: Sakari Tamminem, Niki
Vermeulen, Andrew Webster (eds.) BioObjects in Society (working title), Palgrave,
forthcoming 2011.
Bock v. Wülfingen, B.: “Human genetic technologies in international contexts: Local ideas,
cultures and concerns in comparison”, in: Michael Fischer, Markus Hengstschläger (eds.)
‚Ethik transdisziplinär [ethics in transdisciplinary perspective]: ‚Genetic Screening’, Salzburg,
Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang 2010, p. 367-384.
Bock v. Wülfingen, B.: “Schöne Gene!”, in: Sigrid Walther, Gisela Staupe, Thomas Macho –
für das Deutsche Hygiene Museums Dresden (eds.) Was ist schön?, Wallstein Verlag 2010,
p. 150-156.
[“Beautiful genes!“, in: Sigrid Walther, Gisela Staupe, Thomas Macho – for the German
Hygiene Museum Dresden (eds.) What is beautiful?, Wallstein Verlag 2010, p. 150-156,
published in German language.]
Bock v. Wülfingen, B.: “Is there a turn to systems approaches in life sciences?”, in: European
Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) Reports 10 (2009), p. 37-42
Bock v. Wülfingen, B.: “Der Kern des Unbewussten in Freuds Mikroskop – Apparatur und
Vorverständnis in der Wissensgenese“, in: Christina von Braun et al. (ed.) Das Unbewusste.
Über das Verhältnis von Wissen und Geschlecht, Bielefeld: transcript 2009, p. 62-79
[“The nucleus of the unconscious in Freud’s microscope – apparatus and preconception in
the genesis of knowledge”, in: Christina von Braun et al. (ed.), The unconscious. On the
relationship of knowledge and gender, Bielefeld: transcript 2009, p. 62-79, published in
German language.]
Bock v. Wülfingen, B.: “Extrakorporale Reproduktion als Emanzipation – Feminismus im
biomedizinischen Populärdiskurs“, in: Femina Politica 1/18 (2009), p. 72-83.
[„Extracorporeal reproduction as emancipation – feminism in the biomedical popular science
discourse”, in: Femina Politica 1/18 (2009), p. 72-83, published in German language.]
Bock v. Wülfingen, B.: “Bridgeheads and concerns in the Introduction of human genetic
technology”, in: Willemijn De Jong; Olga Tkach (eds.). Normalising newness of reproductive
technologies in Russia, Switzerland and Germany. Münster: LIT Verlag, 2009, p. 221-239.
Bock v. Wülfingen, B.: “Zeugung“, in: Christina von Braun, Inge Stephan (eds.),
Gender@Wissen (2. üb. Auflg.), Köln: UTB 2009, p. 82-103.
[„Conception“, in: Christina von Braun, Inge Stephan (eds.): Gender@Knowledge (2nd
extended edition), Köln: UTB 2009, p. 82-103 published in German language].
Bock v. Wülfingen, B.: “Platonische Gene – Materialisierte Liebe in der postsexuellen
Fortpflanzung“, in: Berkel, Irene (ed.) Postsexualität Gießen: Psychosozial-Verlag, 2009, S.
63-78.
[“Platonic genes – materialised love in postsexual reproduction“, in: Centre Marc Bloch (ed.)
Postsexualität, Gießen: Psychosozial-Verlag, 2009, p. 63-78, published in German
language].
Monographies and anthologies, selection:
Bock
v.
Wülfingen,
Bettina:
Genetisierung
der
Zeugung,
Eine
Diskurs-
und
Metaphernanalyse reproduktionsgenetischer Zukünfte, Bielefeld: transcript 2007.
[Geneticisation of conception, Bielefeld: transcript 2007, published in German language,
engl. abstract.]
Bock v. Wülfingen, Bettina together with Ute Frietsch (eds.): Epistemologie und Differenz.
Reproduktion in den Wissenschaften, Bielefeld: transcript-Verlag 2010.
[edited together with Ute Frietsch (ed.): Epistemology and difference. Reproduction in the
sciences and humanities, published in German language.]
Bock v. Wülfingen, Bettina together with Bath, Corinna; Saupe, Angelika; Weber, Jutta (eds.)
Materialität denken – Studien zur technologischen Verkörperung, Bielefeld: transcript 2005
[edited together with Corinna Bath, Angelika Saupe, Jutta Weber (eds.): Thinking materiality
- studies on technological embodiments, published in German language.]
Bock v. Wülfingen, Bettina gemeinsam mit Thomas Ernst, Stefan Borrmann, Christian
Gudehus (eds.): Wissenschaft und Macht, Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot 2004.
[edited together with Thomas Ernst, Stefan Borrmann, Christian Gudehus (eds.): The
sciences and power, published in German language.]