Sarah Franklin (born 1960) is an American anthropologist who has substantially contributed to the fields of

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

gender studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...

, cultural studies and the social study of reproductive and genetic technology. She has conducted fieldwork on

IVF In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) f ...

cloning Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical or virtually identical DNA, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction. In the field of biotechnology, c ...

embryology Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, ''-logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos ...

and stem cell research. Her work combines both

ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

methods and kinship theory, with more recent approaches from

science studies Science studies is an interdisciplinary research area that seeks to situate scientific expertise in broad social, historical, and philosophical contexts. It uses various methods to analyze the production, representation and reception of scient ...

and cultural studies. In 2001 she was appointed to a Personal Chair in the Anthropology of Science, the first of its kind in the UK, and a field she has helped to create. She became Professor of Social Studies of Biomedicine in the Department of Sociology at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

in 2004. In 2011 she was elected to the Professorship of Sociology at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

Education

Franklin is a graduate of Smith College (1982) from which she received a Distinguished Alumnae Award in 2011. She has an MA in

Women's Studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

from the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

(1984), an MA in

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

(1986) and a PhD from the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricit ...

(1992). She is one of the first anthropologists to undertake ethnographic research on new reproductive technologies.

Research

She has written and edited numerous books on reproductive and genetic technologies, as well as more than 150 articles, chapters, and reports. She has designed and led several major research projects addressing the social and cultural dimensions of new reproductive and genetic technologies with funding from the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, The Wellcome Trust, the Leverhulme Trust, the European Commission, the Economic and Social Research Council (UK) the British Academy, the Philomathia Foundation, and the Medical Research Council (UK). In 2010 she was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Biology. The post-modernist aspects of some of her work have been criticized by someone outside her fields of research. On 12 October 2017 she became a

Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences The Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) is an award granted by the Academy of Social Sciences to leading academics, policy-makers, and practitioners of the social sciences. Fellows were previously known as Academicians and used the ...

, while in 2021 she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.

Selected publications

''Biological Relatives: IVF, stem cells and the future of kinship'', Duke University Press, 2013
*''Dolly Mixtures: the remaking of genealogy'', Duke University Press, 2007. *''Born and Made: an ethnography of preimplantation genetic diagnosis'', (co-authored with Celia Roberts), Princeton University Press, 2006. *''Remaking Life and Death: towards an anthropology of the biosciences'', (co-edited with Margaret Lock), SAR Press, 2003 *''Relative Values: reconfiguring kinship studies'', Duke 2001 (coedited with Susan McKinnon). *''Global Nature, Global Culture'', (co-authored with Celia Lury and Jackie Stacey), Sage, 2000. *''Reproducing Reproduction: Kinship, Power and Technological Innovation'', (co-edited with Helena Ragone), UPenn Press, 1998 *''Embodied Progress: a cultural account of assisted conception'', Routledge, 1997. *''The Sociology of Gender'', Edward Elgar, 1996. *''Technologies of Procreation: kinship in the age of assisted conception'', (co-authored with Jeanette Edwards, Eric Hirsch, Frances Price and Marilyn Strathern), Manchester University Press, 1993. Second Edition, Routledge, 1999. *''Off-Centre: feminism and cultural studies'', (co-edited with Celia Lury and Jackie Stacey), Harper Collins, 1991.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Sarah 1960 births Living people Academics of the London School of Economics American anthropologists American women anthropologists Smith College alumni New York University alumni Alumni of the University of Birmingham Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences American women academics Fellows of the British Academy 21st-century American women