Off the bat there is no particular relationship that comes to mind when I think of biotechnology/genetic engineering and ethnicity. But after browsing the web for even the slightest connection between the two I found out some interesting things. We were asked to identify ourselves using one word, to reveal our identity. When you are asked to identify yourself with one word, it kind of stumps you a little bit. There were a couple different words that came to my mind when I thought about it. The first world I thought of was muslim. Although I feel as though outwardly I don't typify the appearance that society has deemed that of a "muslim woman", I feel as though that is the group I identify most. My principle and beliefs align most with that of a contemporary muslim woman. "Muslim woman" is obviously two words that carry two different salient identities: gender and religion. However, I could not get myself to to pick just one because being a woman and being muslim are cohesive identities as even within society you are not viewed as just one, The same way black woman cant just be black or woman. They are one and both.
Interestingly enough our genes and biological makeup essentially form our identity, they make us unique and individual. No one DNA strand is ever the same in any one person (unless you're an identical twin). I read the book A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley a while back that relates to this topic in some way. It takes place in a dystopian society in which the government regulates what types of people are born to what class. They essentially genetically engineer babies, manufacturing them to value what the government tells them. These babies are given various different traits and characteristics that define them and categorize them into different groups. This is similar to the more recent phenomena of designer babies, in which parents (with thanks to the advancement in the biotechnology industry) can engineer their child to look a certain way. They can pick and chose the child's characteristics such as skin, eyes, and hair. Even going as far as to demand further refinements including artistic talent and the shape of their body and features. You may still be wondering where ethnicity or even race comes into this, but it's rather clear. Biotechnology makes it possibly to genetically engineer a "super race". Picking and choosing the characteristics that society has deemed superior from each group or ethnicity of people to create the perfect person. Who knows- years from now there may be an entire race or group of people that share physical and social qualities due to the fact that they were all synthetically engineered that way.
On a less hypothetical note, my partner used the word Indian to identify himself - which I coincidentally can also relate to. But when I heard that, I did not how I could relate biotechnology to India, other than to discuss the industry the country. The biotechnology industry in currently soaring in India. India has been one of the international hubs of technological advancement for a very long time, and that is no different when it comes to biotechnology. I went to Bangalore India last summer, and it just so happens got to be the tech and engineering hub of India. The infrastructure of the city is much more urban than that of the majority of India. There were high-rise building that homed companies such as IBM and Accenture. There were also much smaller store fronts and companies that had to do with engineering. It was really interesting to the see the difference between the tech and engineering industry here in the United States vs in India. India is a country that is still mostly very rural and due to the rural population, the agriculture industry has been revolutionized thanks to Indian scientists. They have found a way to produce superior crops that are resistant to pesticides. They have also been able to produce plants that can withstand a wider climate range, ultimately increasing the yield and market for farmers. The Indian people have found ways to advance in the field of genetic engineering within agriculture.
Recent research at the Top B.Sc. Biotech College in Greater Noida has led to the opening of new frontiers in the biotech and nanotech industry in India. The research revolves around improving the results in cancer treatment through nanoparticles. Nano-medicine can detect life threatening diseases before the symptoms have even arrived and better coerce chemotherapeutic drugs to go towards a specific area. The advancements that are being made in the Biotechnology industry in India are very substantial and it says a lot about the identity of the country itself. India has always been a country that seeks to make progress, especially related to the STEM field. The country and its people have always excelled in the hard sciences and mathematics so it not hard to believe that they are making such remarkable progress in Biotech. India has gone through a lot in defining their identity, since at one point they were only a colony of Britain. Since their independence, the country was open to be a secular nation that would be accepting of different religions and races. However, that did not work out, as the people were still caught up in their orthodox values. India was never one nation but always a collection of different entities and cultures with no sense of identity. Now, however, there is more of an understanding of India's identity and where they lie in the scope of the world.
India has great potential for the development of the biotech industry. The agricultural nature of its many regions makes it an excellent place for conducting research and developing new solutions in biotechnology. India is identified as a "mega bio-diversity geographical zone" which again enables it to be at the forefront of bioengineering, not to mention India has one of the best talent pool of human resources, scientists, and engineers who can work towards the advancement of the industry.
References:
https://futurism.media/genetically-engineering-a-super-race
https://mangalmay.org/blog/current-trends-in-the-biotechnology-industry-in-india/
It is a quite interesting take to relate a growing field, to ethnicity. In typical analysis of industries, ethnicity isn't a glaring topic to fall into the scope of study, however the writer has found it as worth looking into. The writer goes on to discuss the potential future of the field in terms of genetic engineering and separately explores the growth of the industry in India. Although the writer does not make a clear parallel between the two, the reader is inclined to make the analysis that perhaps Indians maybe moving towards a path of genetic engineering. A typical understanding of this connection would be that perhaps Indians are not satisfied with their genetics however it is also salient…