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Life, time and the organism: Temporal registers in the construction of life forms

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Life, time and the organism: Temporal registers in the construction of life forms. / Berry, Dominic; Palladino, Paolo Salvatore Andrea.
In: Journal of the History of Biology, Vol. 52, No. 2, 30.10.2018, p. 223–243.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

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APA

Berry, D., & Palladino, P. S. A. (2018). Life, time and the organism: Temporal registers in the construction of life forms. Journal of the History of Biology, 52(2), 223–243. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-018-9513-3

Vancouver

Berry D, Palladino PSA. Life, time and the organism: Temporal registers in the construction of life forms. Journal of the History of Biology. 2018 Oct 30;52(2):223–243. Epub 2018 Oct 30. doi: 10.1007/s10739-018-9513-3

Author

Berry, Dominic ; Palladino, Paolo Salvatore Andrea. / Life, time and the organism : Temporal registers in the construction of life forms. In: Journal of the History of Biology. 2018 ; Vol. 52, No. 2. pp. 223–243.

Bibtex

@article{d415ca0f8a7f458dbf9000344c76783d,
title = "Life, time and the organism: Temporal registers in the construction of life forms",
abstract = "In this paper, we articulate how time and temporalities are involved in the making of living things. For these purposes, we draw on an instructive episode concerning Norfolk Horn sheep. We attend to historical debates over the nature of the breed, whether it is extinct or not, and whether presently living exemplars are faithful copies of those that came before. We argue that there are features to these debates that are important to understanding contemporary configurations of life, time and the organism, especially as these are articulated within the field of synthetic biology. In particular, we highlight how organisms are configured within different material and semiotic assemblages that are always structured temporally. While we identify three distinct structures, namely the historical, phyletic and molecular registers, we do not regard the list as exhaustive. We also highlight how these structures are related to the care and value invested in the organisms at issue. Finally, because we are interested ultimately in ways of producing time, our subject matter requires us to think about historiographical practice reflexively. This draws us into dialogue with other scholars interested in time, not just historians, but also philosophers and sociologists, and into conversations with them about time as always multiple and never an inert background.",
keywords = "Breeding, Organism, Synthetic biology, Time, Value",
author = "Dominic Berry and Palladino, {Paolo Salvatore Andrea}",
note = "The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-018-9513-3",
year = "2018",
month = oct,
day = "30",
doi = "10.1007/s10739-018-9513-3",
language = "English",
volume = "52",
pages = "223–243",
journal = "Journal of the History of Biology",
issn = "0022-5010",
publisher = "Springer Netherlands",
number = "2",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Life, time and the organism

T2 - Temporal registers in the construction of life forms

AU - Berry, Dominic

AU - Palladino, Paolo Salvatore Andrea

N1 - The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-018-9513-3

PY - 2018/10/30

Y1 - 2018/10/30

N2 - In this paper, we articulate how time and temporalities are involved in the making of living things. For these purposes, we draw on an instructive episode concerning Norfolk Horn sheep. We attend to historical debates over the nature of the breed, whether it is extinct or not, and whether presently living exemplars are faithful copies of those that came before. We argue that there are features to these debates that are important to understanding contemporary configurations of life, time and the organism, especially as these are articulated within the field of synthetic biology. In particular, we highlight how organisms are configured within different material and semiotic assemblages that are always structured temporally. While we identify three distinct structures, namely the historical, phyletic and molecular registers, we do not regard the list as exhaustive. We also highlight how these structures are related to the care and value invested in the organisms at issue. Finally, because we are interested ultimately in ways of producing time, our subject matter requires us to think about historiographical practice reflexively. This draws us into dialogue with other scholars interested in time, not just historians, but also philosophers and sociologists, and into conversations with them about time as always multiple and never an inert background.

AB - In this paper, we articulate how time and temporalities are involved in the making of living things. For these purposes, we draw on an instructive episode concerning Norfolk Horn sheep. We attend to historical debates over the nature of the breed, whether it is extinct or not, and whether presently living exemplars are faithful copies of those that came before. We argue that there are features to these debates that are important to understanding contemporary configurations of life, time and the organism, especially as these are articulated within the field of synthetic biology. In particular, we highlight how organisms are configured within different material and semiotic assemblages that are always structured temporally. While we identify three distinct structures, namely the historical, phyletic and molecular registers, we do not regard the list as exhaustive. We also highlight how these structures are related to the care and value invested in the organisms at issue. Finally, because we are interested ultimately in ways of producing time, our subject matter requires us to think about historiographical practice reflexively. This draws us into dialogue with other scholars interested in time, not just historians, but also philosophers and sociologists, and into conversations with them about time as always multiple and never an inert background.

KW - Breeding

KW - Organism

KW - Synthetic biology

KW - Time

KW - Value

U2 - 10.1007/s10739-018-9513-3

DO - 10.1007/s10739-018-9513-3

M3 - Journal article

VL - 52

SP - 223

EP - 243

JO - Journal of the History of Biology

JF - Journal of the History of Biology

SN - 0022-5010

IS - 2

ER -