Blackwell Reference Online

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Biological sex has long been considered a stable, universal factor, the biological counterpart of gender. While this distinction is easily taken for granted, I learned otherwise when I entered the laboratories of the Human Genome Diversity Project. By way of introduction, let me first say something general about this project. During my study of the Human Genome Diversity Project (Diversity Project), I was struck by its mutual absence and presence ( M'charek 2000 ). The Diversity Project was initiated in 1991 by population geneticists who aimed to map human genetic variation on a global level. Their aim was an internationally coordinated scientific endeavor to sample and map genetic variation between populations all over the world, and to reconstruct the migration history of humans. The Project soon became controversial because of an emphasis placed on “isolated populations” and “indigenous people.” It was associated with bad science and scientific racism. In debates about the Diversity Project, it seemed to me that the Project contributed to organized criticism not only of this particular initiative, but also of other practices such as the patenting of genes derived from the cell material of indigenous people (see Lock 2001 ; Haraway 1997 ; Hayden 1998 ). Thus not only was the aim of the Project a globalized approach to genetic diversity; its effect was also a globally organized ... log in or subscribe to read full text