Beyond Life and Death. Investigating Cryopreservation Practices in Contemporary Societies

Abstract

Cryopreservation practices are an essential dimension of contemporary life sciences. They make possible the freezing and storage of cells, tissues and other organic materials at very low temperatures and the subsequent thawing of these at a future date without apparent loss of vitality. The article presents some initial ideas and central theses of a research project recently funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The CRYOSOCIETIES project is based on the thesis that in contemporary societies, cryopreservation practices bring into existence a new form of life: “suspended life”. “Suspended life” enables vital processes to be kept in a liminal state in which biological substances are neither fully alive nor dead. CRYOSOCIETIES examines the creation of “suspended life” through three ethnographic studies that investigate various sites of cryopreservation. The first deals with cord blood banking with the promise to store vitality and ensure health; the second addresses oocyte freezing to extend fertility and rearrange reproductive futures, while the third case study focusses on the emergence of “frozen zoos”, that is to say cryobanks which seek to preserve organic material of endangered or extinct animal species. The conclusion will rehearse the central aspects of the proposed project and point to further directions of research.

The emergence of temporality in attitudes towards cryo-fertility: a case study comparing German and Israeli social egg freezing users

“…While the impact and implications of different biotechnological innovations such as cloning, organ transplantation, tissue generation, and artificial insemination attracted much scholarly attention and academic debate, the history and influence of cryobiology and cryopreservation technologies (which are fundamental to each of those biotechnological innovations) within the life-sciences have been, to a large extent neglected (Lemke, 2019 ; Radin, 2013 ). These currently attract various scholars due to the particular epistemic and social implications of ‘freezing as suspension’ (see below).…”

“…They therefore encompass a unique configuration of temperature and temporality (Oikkonen, 2020 ). Indeed, several scholars share the interpretation of cryo-technological developments as introducing new perceptions of time, biology and their interrelation, calling for empirical investigation (Kroløkke, 2019 , 2021 ; Kroløkke et al, 2020 ; Lemke, 2019 ).…”

“…Cryobiology has become a central technique in contemporary life-sciences as more and more types of tissue and cellular material can be frozen and thawed with almost no loss of vitality (Waldby, 2015 ). This is particularly relevant when it comes to assisted fertility practices as it allows the preservation and further use of different materials (sperm, eggs, gonadal tissues, and embryos) for reproductive purposes (Lemke, 2019 ). We refer to these applications as cryo-fertility.…”

“…Pertinent academic debates on cryo-fertility and temporality highlight: the way such technologies halt the temporality of reproductive biology and the related social and ethical implications (Kroløkke et al, 2020 ; Landecker, 2010 ; Lemke, 2019 , 2021 ); the use of such technologies in order to control fertility while synchronizing different temporalities (e.g. social and biological) (Baldwin, 2019 ; Brown & Patrick, 2018 ; Kroløkke, 2019 ; Waldby, 2015 ); and the analysis of the criticism directed at such technologies as reflecting moral and normative perceptions concerning the “appropriate” timetables and life-course ideals (Rimon-Zarfaty & Schweda, 2019 ).…”

Dynamiken des Stillstands: Eine sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektive auf kryobiologische Anwendungen

“…Unsere Ausgangsthese ist, dass Kryokonservierung eine spezifische Form des Lebens hervorbringt, die wir als ‚Leben in der Schwebe' oder im Englischen als ‚suspended life' bezeichnen. [8] Mit diesem Schwebezustand zwischen Leben und Tod, Deanimation und Reanimation gehen neue Möglichkeiten einher, biologische Materie zu kontrollieren, zu modulieren und zu optimieren. Das wiederum hat mitunter weitreichende Effekte auf gesellschaftliche Dynamiken.…”