Culture, kinship, and genes : towards cross-cultural genetics

The first comprehensive attempt to explore the issues raised by genetic counselling across cultures. It will be of interest to health professionals and to students and lecturers in the social, behavioural and political sciences and in genetics, medicine and nursing. The meaning and relevance of kinship and ethnicity in the context of genetic disease, cultural issues that have arisen in practice, including the influence of the lay public's beliefs about inheritance and the wider social and political context of genetics and genetic disease are all explored in depth. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction....Pages 1-23 Front Matter....Pages 25-25 Kinship and Medical Genetics: A Clinician’s Perspective....Pages 27-39 The Work of Culture: An Anthropological Perspective....Pages 40-53 What is an Ethnic Group? A Biological Perspective....Pages 54-66 What is an Ethnic Group? The View from Social Anthropology....Pages 67-79 Front Matter....Pages 81-81 Consanguineous Marriage and Genetics: A Positive Relationship....Pages 83-96 Factors Associated with Birth Outcome in Bradford Pakistanis....Pages 97-110 The Relevance of Cultural Understanding to Clinical Genetic Practice....Pages 111-119 Women’s Experiences of Screening in Pregnancy: Ethnic Differences in the West Midlands....Pages 120-132 Coping with the Sickle Cell Gene in Africa....Pages 133-146 Cultural Influences on the Perception of Genetic Disorders in the Black Population of Southern Africa....Pages 147-157 The Role of Unconscious Fantasy in the Giving and Receiving of Genetic Counselling....Pages 158-164 Front Matter....Pages 165-165 Everyday Ideas of Inheritance and Health in Britain: Implications for Predictive Genetic Testing....Pages 167-174 It Runs in the Family: Lay Knowledge about Inheritance....Pages 175-194 Front Matter....Pages 195-195 ‘Once You Have a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail’....Pages 197-205 Learning Difficulties and the Guardians of the Gene....Pages 206-217 Matchmaking in the Clinic: Gamete Donation and the Management of Difference....Pages 218-230 About Genetics: Aspects of Social Structure Worth Considering....Pages 231-244 Culture and Genetics: Is Genetics in Society or Society in Genetics?....Pages 245-260 Back Matter....Pages 261-272