Weighing the Future. Race, Science, and Pregnancy Trials in the Postgenomic Era by Prof. Natali Valdez (ANTH 379 Guest Lecture)

We are inviting the broader campus community to an open session of ANTH 379 - Medical Anthropology - Anthropology of Care. Pr. Valdez will be giving a 30mn book talk, followed by a conversation with the audience. Students will prepare by reading chapter 4 of Weighing the Future (Pregnant Narratives: Experiencing Lifestyle Intervention).

Abstract: Epigenetics, the study of heritable changes in gene expression, has been heralded as one of the most promising new fields of scientific inquiry. Current large-scale studies selectively draw on epigenetics to connect behavioral choices made by pregnant people, such as diet and exercise, to health risks for future generations. As the first ethnography of its kind, Weighing the Future examines the sociopolitical implications of ongoing pregnancy trials in the United States and the United Kingdom, illuminating how processes of scientific knowledge production are linked to capitalism, surveillance, and environmental reproduction. Natali Valdez argues that a focus on individual behavior rather than social environments ignores the vital impacts of systemic racism. The environments we imagine to shape our genes, bodies, and future health are intimately tied to race, gender, and structures of inequality. This groundbreaking book makes the case that science, and how we translate it, is a reproductive project that requires feminist vigilance. Instead of fixating on a future at risk, this book brings attention to the present at stake.

Natali Valdez is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Fordham University. She specializes in applying critical ethnographic methods to understand complex problems in medicine, science, and technology. Her research focuses on issues of racism, power, and equity in healthcare. Her book Weighing the Futurewas awarded the 2023 Eileen Basker Memorial Prize, which recognizes books that make “courageous and significant contributions in gender and health.”