National Biobank and Nation-building : The Case of Taiwan Biobank

• In Event: National Identities and Transnational Science and Technology during the 20th Century: Historical Perspectives

Abstract

The completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 heralded the coming of the ‘post-genomic era’ when large-scale population- and national-based biobanks have been initiated around the world. This article argues that the national genetic project, Taiwan Biobank, has contributed to Taiwan’s national building by examining 1) state policies changing from pursuing a “Sci-Tech Island” to “an island of biomedical technology” under the context of upgrading national economy and global competition of biomedicine and ; 2) the discourses about the uniqueness of the Taiwanese genome as a niche in the competitive global biomedical market and 3)the enormous potential the Taiwan Biobank has for contributing to the health of Taiwanese future generation.

Influenced by the identity politics emerging since the 1990s, the representative significance of biomedical research sample regarding human classification has shifted from “Chinese” to “Taiwanese.” As a result, the Taiwan Biobank has involved new imaginaries of Taiwaneseness. Such imaginaries as “Taiwan must have their own laboratory,” “the four great ethnic groups are representative of Taiwanese unique genetic composition,” and “Research of Taiwanese genetic attributes must enter the global arena,” and the like are deeply embedded in the context of identity politics characterized by the advocacy of the idea of “Taiwanese subjectivity,” “multiculturalism,” and “inclusive treatment of new immigrant” since the 1990s. By exploring how the discourse of “the Taiwanese genome as a niche” has being constructed, the article points to the close relationship between life genetic science, technology, and nation-building in the post-genomic era.

Authors

• Yu-yueh Tsai, Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica

• WanJu Lee, Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica