Abstract

The potential to eradicate entire populations of invasive species or confer disease immunity on endangered species might seem like the holy grail for environmental managers. In fact, given the capability, it may even be perceived as a moral duty for human kind. Advances in science and technology through CRISPR -based gene-editing bring this future closer to our reach, yet beyond the materiality of laboratory experiments, this future also involves the interplay of imagination and collective building that surrounds the process of publicly deliberating the role of science and technology in conservation and the human place in nature. This discussion-based seminar introduces the concept of Sociotechnical Imaginaries, developed by Sheila Jasanoff at the Harvard Kennedy School where I have recently been a Visiting Research Fellow, and invites a discussion of gene-editing within a Science and Technology Studies and Political Ecology framework as a technology for shaping conservation futures.