Joanna Radin, PhD
Associate Professor of History of MedicineDownloadHi-Res Photo
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Associate Professor of History of Medicine
Biography
Joanna Radin (Associate Professor) received her PhD in History and Sociology of Science from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a historian of biomedical futures who cares about how people in the past imagined how science, technology and medicine would change their lives. This has led her to think and write about global histories of biology, ecology, medicine, technology, and anthropology since 1945; history and anthropology of life and death; biomedical technology and computing; feminist, Indigenous, and queer STS; and science fiction.
All of these themes are present in her current book project, which reconsiders the history of science through the career of Michael Crichton.
She is the author of Life on Ice: A History of New Uses for Cold Blood (Chicago 2017), the first history of the low-temperature biobank and co-editor, with Emma Kowal of Cyropolitics: Frozen Life in a Melting World (MIT 2017), which considers the technics and ethics of freezing across the life and environmental sciences.
Last Updated on August 26, 2024.
Appointments
History of Medicine
Associate Professor TenurePrimaryAnthropology
Associate Professor on TermSecondaryHistory
Associate Professor TenureSecondary
Other Departments & Organizations
Education & Training
- PhD
- University of Pennsylvania (2012)
- MS
- University of Pennsylvania (2007)
- MS
- Cornell University, Communication (2004)
- BS
- Cornell University, Communication (2002)
Research
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Overview
Medical Research Interests
Bioethics; Biomedical Technology; Cryopreservation; Death; Epidemiology; Ethics; Expeditions; Global Health; History of Medicine; Infectious Disease Medicine; Medicine in Literature
ORCID
0000-0002-2332-6535
Publications
2025
Jim Endersby, The Arrival of the Fittest: Biology’s Imaginary Futures, 1900–1935, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2025, ISBN: 9780226837543, 400 pp.
Radin J. Jim Endersby, The Arrival of the Fittest: Biology’s Imaginary Futures, 1900–1935, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2025, ISBN: 9780226837543, 400 pp. Journal Of The History Of Biology 2025, 1-3. DOI: 10.1007/s10739-025-09844-5.Peer-Reviewed Original Research
2019
Alternative Facts and States of Fear: Reality and STS in an Age of Climate Fictions
Radin J. Alternative Facts and States of Fear: Reality and STS in an Age of Climate Fictions. Minerva 2019, 57: 411-431. DOI: 10.1007/s11024-019-09374-5.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricConceptsScience warsPolitics of knowledgeState of fearNegotiation of claimsGenre of fictionTechniques of scienceNeo-conservativesKnowledge productionTechnology studiesReflexive historySocial lifeClimate fictionAlternative factsMichael CrichtonInterwoven strandsNaomi OreskesClimate changeConway approachAcademic studiesSurprising waysSTS practicesClimate scienceCase studyNegotiationsAnthropogenic climate change
2018
Ethics in Human Biology: A Historical Perspective on Present Challenges
Radin J. Ethics in Human Biology: A Historical Perspective on Present Challenges. Annual Review Of Anthropology 2018, 47: 263-278. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-anthro-102317-045922.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricConceptsComplex historical relationshipEthical issuesComplex ethical issuesPolitics of racePractices of biomedicineHuman biologyHistorical relationshipHistorical perspectiveIndigenous peoplesTurning pointResearch materialLife sciencesFuture successRaceEthicsPresent challengesColonialismPeopleIndigeneityAnthropologyPoliticsIssuesPracticeHistoryScience
2017
’Digital Natives’: How Medical and Indigenous History Matter For Big Data
Joanna Radin (2017) Osiris.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCryopolitics: Frozen Life in a Melting World
Joanna Radin and Emma Kowal (eds) Cambridge: MIT University Press, 2017Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchLife on Ice: A History of New Uses for Cold Blood
Joanna Radin (2017) Chicago: University of Chicago PressPeer-Reviewed Original Research
2016
Collections d’échantillons biologiques autochtones et cryopolitique de la vie congelée
Kowal E, Radin J. Collections d’échantillons biologiques autochtones et cryopolitique de la vie congelée. Les Actes De Colloques Du Musée Du Quai Branly 2016 DOI: 10.4000/actesbranly.660.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsConceptsMichel Foucault’s biopoliticsFoucault’s biopoliticsIndigenous scholarsMid-twentieth centuryBiopolitical assemblagesKey critiquesTechnology studiesIndigenous AustraliansLatent lifeDemand destructionRange of purposesBiopoliticsCase studyBroad implicationsLifeScientistsCritiqueInterviewsScholarsAustraliansVacillatesArticlePracticeCenturyDramatic consequencesPatrons of the Human Experience: A History of The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research
Susan Lindee and Joanna Radin. (2016) Current Anthropology, 57(S14): S218-S301.Peer-Reviewed Original Research
2015
Indigenous blood and ethical regimes in the United States and Australia since the 1960s
RADIN J, KOWAL E. Indigenous blood and ethical regimes in the United States and Australia since the 1960s. American Ethnologist 2015, 42: 749-765. DOI: 10.1111/amet.12168.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricConceptsAttempts of scientistsEthical regimesSocial scientific analysisU.S. historiansIndigenous bloodAustralian anthropologistsIndigenous peoplesEthical knowledgeHuman experimentationEthnographic analysisNational contextsIndigenous communitiesCollection oneSeries of vignettesScientific knowledgeUnited StatesHuman speciesScientific analysisHuman variationIndigenous samplesInstitutional repositoriesHistoriansCenturyAnthropologistsNarrativesPlanned Hindsight
Radin J. Planned Hindsight. Journal Of Cultural Economy 2015, 8: 361-378. DOI: 10.1080/17530350.2015.1039458.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricConceptsAmerican MuseumAmerican Museum of Natural HistoryMuseum of Natural HistorySmall collectionsFrozen zoosCryo-collectionsAmerican leadersPaper IParadoxical strategyLife scientistsNatural historyCollectionScientistsNew York CitySystematic taxonomyHeterogeneous collectionConservation geneticsAmbroseEscondidoYork CityLifeHistoryConservationLeadersZoo
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