Family, kinship, memory and temporality in the age of the new genetics

The new genetics has now become an integral part of contemporary biomedicine, promising great advances in alleviating disease. Like any scientific endeavor, beliefs in the new genetics tend to give new meanings to peopleʹs lives and therefore have significant implications for peopleʹs lived experience. Drawing on fieldwork in the USA and research in various literatures, the aim of this article is to explore the role the new genetics plays in mainstream American society as revealed in peopleʹs narratives of their families’ medical histories. An anthropological analysis of these narratives illuminates multilayered cultural meanings of genetic inheritance and the role biomedical conceptualizations play not only in explaining disease etiologies and treatment, but also in addressing concerns that bear on the postmodern experience of family, kinship, choice, memory, time-space, relatedness, sociality and immortality.