Paper short abstract:

Scientific efforts to clone extinct species through extracting DNA from remnant museum specimens raise a number of ethical issues underscored by competing questions of value. Using the thylacine as a case study, this paper considers the intersection of time and value in the context of de-extinction.

Paper long abstract:

Scientific efforts to clone extinct animals through the extraction of DNA from remnant museum specimens raise a number of ethical issues involving competing questions of value. What is being prioritized in such efforts - is it the animal or the species, the scientific or the economic, or is it the idea of de-extinction as a uniquely human capacity to subvert linear and genetic notions of time? Drawing on scientific efforts to clone the thylacine, this paper considers the notion of de-extinction through cloning as a particular form of exchange: one that involves the transfer of body parts, and that has the potential to extend species in time and space. This invites a conceptual analysis that links questions of time and value with anthropological discussions about partibility and personhood and activities that, in other contexts, might be described as 'sorcery' or 'magic'.