SinoNet: WG: Vortrag Professor Rodney Jones - 23 November: Personal Genomics in China

[Gregor Kneussel]

Vortrag: Personal genomics in China.

Herzliche Grüße
Gregor

-------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht --------
Betreff: 	Reminder: Professor Rodney Jones - 23 November
Datum: 	Sun, 22 Nov 2015 13:42:39 +0000
Von: 	Institutsliste für Slawische Sprachen der WU

Dear all,

We would like to invite you to our forthcoming “English Research 
Seminar” with our next guest speaker, *Professor Rodney Jones*, 
Professor of Sociolinguistics and Head of Department at the University 
of Reading. Professor Jones’ main interests are discourse analysis, 
interactional sociolinguistics, and language and digital media. 
https://www.reading.ac.uk/english-language-and-applied-linguistics/Aboutus/Staff/r-h-jones.aspx

Date, time and venue:

*Monday, 23th  November, 18: 15, D2.2.228 (Besprechungsraum).*
[Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, 2., Welthandelsplatz 1 (WU-Campus)]

*Title and abstract:*

Marketing the Genome across Cultures: Copycat Companies and Discursive 
Clones

Advances in biotechnology have made genomic testing for disease risk and 
other traits available to the general public. The commercial marketing 
of personal genomic tests began with US and European companies like 
23andMe and DeCodeMe, but recently personal genomics companies are 
sprouting up in Asia, adapting the business models of US and Western 
European companies to different  sociopolitical conditions. Studying the 
discourse of personal genomics as it takes root in different countries 
offers an interesting lens on how issues related to genetics (such as 
identity, race, and disease risk) are constructed in different cultural 
contexts. It also provides a lens on how companies sometimes ‘cut and 
paste’ business models and promotional discourse from other companies 
and adapt them to local conditions.

This paper explores the way Chinese companies appropriate discourses of 
personal genomics from US companies and adapt them to the particular 
socioeconomic, political and cultural conditions of China. Drawing on 
principles of multimodal and mediated discourse analysis, it analyzes 
the websites of three Chinese personal genomics companies, focusing on 
the way they portray their missions, claim credibility, position their 
customers, and discuss issues like identity, disease risk, and privacy.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about these websites is the degree to 
which they extensively appropriate (sometimes verbatim) texts and images 
from the websites of US companies, especially 23andMe. Even more 
interesting, however, is the waythese images and discourses are 
transformed as they are strategically recontextualized. Despite this 
widespread ‘copying’, Chinese companies promote a very different 
understanding of personal genomics than their US and European 
counterparts. This analysis points to ways sociolinguistics can 
contribute to debates not just about the popular understanding of 
science, but also about issues of intellectual property and 
intertextuality in the global business environment.

Looking forward to welcoming you all to an engaging and stimulating talk.

Best wishes,

Johanna and Susanne