Paul Rabinow

Paul Rabinow is professor of anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is arguably best known for his work with Michel Foucault while Foucault was at Berkeley. His work has consistently centered on the problem of modernity. In the last decade, he has focused particularly on the problems associated with molecular biology and genomics. Ian Hacking, a 2006 ASC distinguished visitor, has said of Rabinow that “he is the anthropologist of the genome industry. There is unlikely to be anyone else, at present, as agile with biotechnology and as adept in discussing biopower as Paul Rabinow.”

Rabinow calls his approach an anthropology of reason. Its primary lines of investigation revolve around the questions: who are the humans at issue and what knowledges constitute them and help them understand themselves and their environments? His current research centers on the new field of synthetic biology. Among his many books are his recent books Making PCR, A Story of Biotechnology (1996), Essays in the Anthropology of Reason (1997), Anthropos Today: Reflections on Modern Equipment (2003), and A Machine to Make a Future: Biotech Chronicles (2004, with Talia Dan-Cohen).