Paper short abstract:

This talk shows how developments in epigenetics, under the aegis of the so-called Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis, partake to an imaginary that rewrites normative, epistemic and social orders of parenting and reproduction.

Paper long abstract:

This talk shows how developments in epigenetics, under the aegis of the so-called Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis, partake to an imaginary renegotiating responsibilities to protect the health of future generations, which rewrites normative, epistemic and social orders of parenting and reproduction. Drawing from interviews and a co-laborative (Niewöhner 2015) approach based at the University of Lausanne, the talk focuses on knowledge-production on epigenetic inheritance and DOHaD as both a promissory discourse for reproductive scientists, and a promising laboratory of biopolitical action (Rabinow and Rose 2006).

The talk proceeds as follows. First, we map the set of allegedly factual discourses that characterise the intersection of epigenetics and DOHaD. These discourses, we show, are not 'biological' in the contemporary sense of the discipline; rather, they build upon the hybridity of biological and socio-political styles of thought that are distinctive of epigenetics. Second, we highlight the strategies for intervention upon collective existence these discourses embed, and the allegedly compelling "moral imperative to provide a healthy start to life for the next generations" (Hanson and Gluckman 2011: S5) they impose, according to biomedical scientists in the field. Third, we identify the modalities of subjectification triggered by this knowledge-claims. In particular, we detail how individuals, relate epigenetics to discourses of "parenting" and "reproduction", and consequently how they are brought to work on themselves (both as prospective parents and citizens) in the name of those who are yet to come.