TY - JOUR

T1 - Promising Potency

T2 - Bio-evangelical Networking in a Korean Stem Cell Enterprise

AU - Lee, Jieun

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - The notion of potency has been central in the shaping of the field of stem cell sciences. It not only offers a unique promissory quality to stem cells, but also an interpretive flexibility that can be exploited outside of the scientific research community. One Korea-based stem cell company actively exploits this aspect to amplify its promise of experimental stem cell therapy through an evangelical Christian network. The notion of stem cells' potency is at the crux of their discursive maneuvers that portray stem cells as a 'gift that God has prepared in our body.' In their entrepreneurial endeavor to exploit business opportunities in evangelical Christian communities, the company strategically exploits the differences between two social worlds (that of the stem cell research community and of evangelical Christians), reflecting a process of 'bio-evangelical networking'. The presumed religion/science divide, the grammar of miracles, the convention of religious witnessing, as well as faith in this-worldly blessings are actively sought and mobilized as a backdrop for the proliferation of stem cell promises in this religious niche. The notion of potency, once constructed, reformulated, and even fetishized in the scientific community's effort to consolidate public support, thereby becomes a problem for the stem cell enterprise itself.

AB - The notion of potency has been central in the shaping of the field of stem cell sciences. It not only offers a unique promissory quality to stem cells, but also an interpretive flexibility that can be exploited outside of the scientific research community. One Korea-based stem cell company actively exploits this aspect to amplify its promise of experimental stem cell therapy through an evangelical Christian network. The notion of stem cells' potency is at the crux of their discursive maneuvers that portray stem cells as a 'gift that God has prepared in our body.' In their entrepreneurial endeavor to exploit business opportunities in evangelical Christian communities, the company strategically exploits the differences between two social worlds (that of the stem cell research community and of evangelical Christians), reflecting a process of 'bio-evangelical networking'. The presumed religion/science divide, the grammar of miracles, the convention of religious witnessing, as well as faith in this-worldly blessings are actively sought and mobilized as a backdrop for the proliferation of stem cell promises in this religious niche. The notion of potency, once constructed, reformulated, and even fetishized in the scientific community's effort to consolidate public support, thereby becomes a problem for the stem cell enterprise itself.

KW - Promise

KW - potentiality

KW - citationality

KW - boundary objects

KW - persons

KW - stem cells

KW - Korea

KW - HWANG AFFAIR

KW - SCIENCE

KW - HOPE

KW - EXPECTATIONS

KW - BOUNDARY

KW - POLITICS

KW - SCIENTISTS

KW - SOCIOLOGY

KW - JOURNEYS

KW - THERAPY

U2 - 10.1080/09505431.2020.1751813

DO - 10.1080/09505431.2020.1751813

M3 - Journal article

VL - 29

SP - 594

EP - 616

JO - Science as Culture

JF - Science as Culture

SN - 0950-5431

IS - 4

ER -