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Menschen machen aus Akt und Substanz : Prokreation und Vaterschaft im reproduktionsmedizinischen und im literarischen Experiment

Arni, Caroline. (2008) Menschen machen aus Akt und Substanz : Prokreation und Vaterschaft im reproduktionsmedizinischen und im literarischen Experiment. Gesnerus, Vol. 65. pp. 196-224.

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Abstract

As an experimental medical practice artificial insemination in humans dates back to the end. of the 18th century. Efforts intensified in the second half of the 19th century, when, especially in France, the number of reports in scientific publications increased and the topic became the subject of heated debates. I trace this emergence of reproductive medicine avant la lettre by reviewing the relevant medical publications. Hereby, I focus on how experiments in artificial insemination presupposed a new conceptualisation of procreation which detaches procreation from the doings of human actors by reducing it to the fusion of germ cells. This "biologisation" of procreation entailed a series of irritations with regard to the determination of "natural" paternity and the impact and relevance of the procreative act's nature. These irritations are dealt with in a novel that appears in Paris in 1884, entitled The Man-Maker. This novel thus attests to the cultural uncertainties that went along with the emergence of what laid the epistemological ground for the reproductive medicine to come.
Faculties and Departments:04 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > Departement Geschichte > Bereich Neuere und Neueste Geschichte > Allgemeine Geschichte des 19./20. Jhds (Arni)
UniBasel Contributors:Arni, Caroline
Item Type:Article, refereed
Article Subtype:Research Article
Publisher:Schwabe
ISSN:0016-9161
Note:Publication type according to Uni Basel Research Database: Journal article
Language:German
edoc DOI:
Last Modified:21 Nov 2017 06:47
Deposited On:22 Mar 2012 13:31

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