In 2002, the journal Science published a draft sequence of the indica rice genome assembled with remarkable speed by the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI). This article examines the publication of BGI’s draft sequence of the rice genome in... more
In 2002, the journal Science published a draft sequence of the indica rice genome assembled with remarkable speed by the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI). This article examines the publication of BGI’s draft sequence of the rice genome in Science is an instantiation of the practice of seeing in genes. Seeing in genes includes a range of social practices whereby different kinds of social actors represent organisms in terms of their genes, and intervene in the lives of organisms through the use of genetic information. The choice of China’s most important crop as an object of the genetic gaze emerged from that nation’s recent history of severe famine. A decentralized scientific infrastructure allowed Chinese scientists to train abroad and to found BGI by amassing funding from a diversity of sources to. The image of science as a means of national salvation and the premium placed on self-reliance lashed-up with the global practice of seeing in genes to produce the draft sequence of the r...
