ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the current “public discussion” about stem cell research and cloning can help us to understand new strategies in contemporary biopolitics. It discusses the stem cell research and cloning as indicating the emergence of new strategies and constellations in the field of biopolitics. The chapter shows that these new biopolitical strategies are inseparably related to new biological technologies that have transformed representations of and interventions in life processes. It also argues that embryonic stem cell research and cloning are only the most prominent among a number of other strategies to “rebuild” and “reprogram” life on the cellular level. The chapter also discusses how these new biological technologies connect to the construction of antagonistic narratives and positions in the struggle to give meaning to practices of “shaping life”. The new quality of visualizations of early human life also had a number of unintended political effects.
