Speaker's Series Nov. 9

Friday, November 9, 2018 - 15:00

Centre for Research in Reasoning, Argumentation & Rhetoric along with the PhD in Argumentation Studies at the University of Windsor invite you to a talk by

 

Dr. Michael Crawford

Argumentation Studies Faculty

 

“Pugnacious (Mis)Representations in the Communication of Gene-Based Studies”

 

Abstract: Molecular genetics has provided sophisticated tools to dissect gene function, to alter genomes, and to provide access to a cornucopia of medical, pharmacological, and agricultural benefits. However, these studies are expensive, research funding is cyclic and uncertain, and speed as well as research prowess is paramount to ensure grant renewal, authorial primacy, and patent success. This highly competitive system subjects both the lead investigators and the drones in the enterprise to immense pressure to perform. Consequently, the language deployed to describe both techniques and results often reveals a pugnacious slant that situates published papers and their readers in an interesting context: they come to inhabit a collaborative perspective of durability and success that is more absolute and hopeful than realistic.  We argue that, as CRISPR technology expands, patterns of language use formerly prominent in the early days of gene "knockout" studies are being resurrected in the titles and abstracts of published articles.

 

Friday, November 9, 2018

3:00 pm

Chrysler Hall North, 1163

All are welcome

(519)253-3000