Re-conceptualizing families? Interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives on assisted reproductive technologies as a vehicle between tradition and modernity

The idea that assisted reproductive technologies (ART) modify our conception of family is trivial. Yet those modifications are continuous, and their directions are sometimes surprising. In this workshop, we would like to engage in a comparative outlook and discussion over current questions, areas and findings concerning the evolution of families who now have access to more and more sophisticated ART.

We observe here a tension between the modernity of technologies and reinforcement of the most traditional conceptions of the family unit. This tension raises the question of agency: is it families and individuals themselves who make choices in favour of more and more sophisticated procedures, is it the State, or are the technologies themselves seducing enough to impose their supposedly neutral quest for “betterness”? What happens to the notion of nature? How strong is its normative force in individual and medical decision-making? What fantasies are being realized through ART? What myths are being reinforced?

We will address these and other questions taking into account countries in which either cultural conceptions of genetic community (Bresil) or ideological stances concerning the role of the State in the family formation are very different (Germany, Switzerland, Poland) from those that have been observed in Israel. In the concluding round table discussion the workshop will consider the implications of these case studies for the Israeli debate on ART.

Introduction:

Daphna Hacker

New family forms

Parenthood and Descent Today

Papers: 

Ilana Löwy

Cannibal heredity: genetics and national identity in Brazil

Anna Zielinska

ART in France, Germany and Poland: blood, history and legislative chaos

Mélanie Levy

Identity, genetics, and best interests: Defining new family forms through law – Judicial reasoning in an age of ART and medical tourism

Round table discussion (implications of these case studies for the Israeli debate on ART), with

• Lior Barshack
• Yael Hashiloni-Dolev
• Shai Lavi
• Gad Potashnik