I’m planning to write a play for the Traverse called “The Fly Room” - about power, property and knowledge - at the end of all this, but in the meantime I’m going to be putting together what I hope will be a series of provocative public events that share and invite comment on the thinking I’m putting into it.
Me and some actors will be presenting and interrogating key texts and events from the making of the modern world of genomics…not simply as a subset of techniques of biological and medical enquiry and innovation…but as a way of understanding “life”…whatever that turns out to mean.
These are found texts…to be culled and winnowed…and debated between...I’ve already got a pile of books and pdfs to read. Over the next few weeks I’ll be letting you know what I’m reading and a bit of what I’m thinking.
The first of these events is hopefully going to be towards the end of June…a kind of trial balloon we’re going to send up…maybe in the Traverse Bar…?
(hint to Traverse)
I’m going to start out with a bit of an old classic…The Scopes Monkey Trial…Tennessee 1925…that first big clash of world views…base camp for America’s culture wars on evolution in education…the clash of titans (Bryan and Darrow) memorably mis-represented in the hit play and movie “Inherit the Wind”…and revived by Kevin Spacey at the Old Vic not long since
(See how I’m deftly marrying our worlds together)
Plus, of course…the Dover School Board in Pennsylvania going through exactly the same stuff on Intelligent Design (or Creationism Lite) much more recently...(2004)
Creationism...in some disguise or other... as maybe coming to a Foundation School near you…Michael Gove’s stipulations not-withstanding. The debate about evolution in education in the States is very fast moving…they keep changing the terms and I'll be trying to get current on all that too...
Meanwhile if there’s anybody out there…I’m looking for suggestions…I’m looking for folk to talk to…
I’m here now. So you know where to find me.
Hello.
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