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Paper short abstract:

The perceived boundedness of islands can lure some scientists to imagine ‘watertight’ field sites. In the Torres Strait where water connects, is project containment porous? This paper brings synthetic biology into dialogue with the hydro-history and fluid future of Torres Strait Islander identities.

Paper long abstract:

Surrounded by water, islands have captured the imagination of peoples and governing regimes for their seemingly bounded nature. This perceived boundedness can lure some scientists into a sense of project containment: ‘watertight’ field sites. Synthetic biology (synbio) proposes to manage invasive species at scale and in more humane ways, by engineering a gene drive (biased inheritance) to preference a single sex in the offspring of a species. Applied over generations, a gene drive promises to radically reduce a pest population through suppressed breeding. Synbio scientists have identified islands as sites where, in collaboration with Traditional Owners and other Australians, they hope to trial the release of approved drives in the future. However, islands can be bridges as much as they are boundaries. The Torres Strait Islands stretch between mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea and relationships to and transport via this water informs customary connection and transnational notions of kin. In this watery world, how do watertight concepts of containment become porous, and what risks and benefits might come from a consideration of synbio science? Also, how does a changing climate impact identities in the Torres Strait? As an intra- and inter-national island ethnography, this paper will consider how synbio approaches to water may engage with the hydro-history and fluid future of Torres Strait Islander identities, and vice versa, as bridge, boundary or something in between.