University of British Columbia Press
Living Dead in the Pacific
Contested Sovereignty and Racism in Genetic Research on Taiwan Aborigines
9780774826600
9780774826594
Distributed for University of British Columbia Press
Living Dead in the Pacific
Contested Sovereignty and Racism in Genetic Research on Taiwan Aborigines
Colonized since the 1600s, Taiwan is largely a nation of settlers, yet within its population of twenty-three million are 500,000 Aboriginal people. In their quest to learn about disease and evolution, genetic researchers have eagerly studied this group over the past thirty years but have often disregarded the rights of their subjects. Examining a troubling revival of racially configured genetic research and the questions of sovereignty it raises, Living Dead in the Pacific details a history of exploitation and resistance that represents a new area of conflict facing Aboriginal people both within Taiwan and around the world.
Table of Contents
1 Taiwan Aborigines’ Genes as Black Boxes
2 Aboriginal Peoples’ Genes as Narrated and Contested Assemblages
3 Imposing Genetic Distinctions: Aboriginal Peoples and Alcoholism in Genetics Research
4 Informed Consent in the Austronesian Homeland
5 Were the Maori “Made in Taiwan”?
6 Internet Shopping Carts and Patenting Taiwan’s “Gift to the World”
7 Conclusion: The Agency of the Living Dead in Contested Sovereignty
Notes; References; Index