Bettina Bock von Wülfingen

Temporalities of reproduction: practices and concepts from the eighteenth to the early twenty-first century

Reproduction is of central interest to the history of the life sciences. Yet our knowledge of the epistemological, scientific and political changes in the history of reproduction over the last two hundered years remains fragmented and limited. Existing studies usually focus on specific epochs—such as the eighteenth century, when the concept of reproduction started to circulate in the context of the emerging sciences of ‘‘the living’’, or the reproductive sciences and medicine of the twentieth and early twentyfirst centuries. Attempts to investigate scientific concepts and practices of reproduction and their social, political and cultural contexts from an interdisciplinary and longue durée perspective are still rare. Our special issue contributes to filling this

Observing temporal order in living processes: on the role of time in embryology on the cell level in the 1870s and post-2000

The article analyses the role of time in the visual culture of two phases in embryological research: at the end of the nineteenth century, and in the years around 2000. The first case study involves microscopical cytology, the second reproductive genetics. In the 1870s we observe the first of a series of abstractions in research methodology on conception and development, moving from a method propagated as the observation of the “real” living object to the production of stained and fixated objects that are then aligned in temporal order. This process of abstraction ultimately fosters a dissociation between space and time in the research phenomenon, which after 2000 is problematized and explicitly tackled in embryology. Mass data computing made it possible partially to re-include temporal complexity in reproductive genetics in certain, though not all, fields of reproductive genetics. Here research question, instrument and modelling interact in ways that produce very different temporal relationships. Specifically, this article suggests that the different techniques in the late nineteenth century and around 2000 were employed in order to align the time of the researcher with that of the phenomenon and to economize the researcher’s work in interaction with the research material’s own temporal challenges.

Contested change: how Germany came to allow PGD

Until recently, German laws protecting the human embryo from the moment of conception were some of the strictest internationally. These laws had previously prevented any manipulation of the embryo, such as in preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), and continue to affect stem cell research. In 2011, however, the German parliament voted in favour of allowing PGD in specific cases. While the modification in the law in earlier analysis was interpreted as being in keeping with the usual norms in Germany, this article argues instead that the reasoning behind the partial acceptance of PGD, rather than the legal decision itself, is indicative of a sociocultural change that needs to be accredited. Demonstrating that a significant change occurred, this article analyses the arguments that led to the amendment in law: not only has the identity of the embryo been redefined towards a pragmatic concept but the notions of parenting and pregnancy have also changed. The focus on the mother and the moment of birth has given way to a focus on conception and ‘genetic couplehood’. The professional discourse preceding the decision allowing PGD suggested that the rights of the not-yet-implanted embryo should be negotiated with those of the two parents-to-be, a concept that may be called ‘in-vitro pregnancy’.