Beyond moral collapse: an anthropological analysis of the narratives of american women carrying the brca1 mutation

Abstract

The presence of a mutation in the BRCA1 gene in women implies awareness of the increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Given the reshaping of expectations resulting from genetic testing, this article uses the accounts of actress Angelina Jolie and researcher Elisa Long regarding the discovery of the BRCA1 mutation to analyze the macrostructural conditions of possibility that help explain the moral personhood from which they both understand the moral collapse they experience. The notion of triple mimesis was used as methodological inspiration because it both allows us to reconcile the narratives constructed by Jolie and Long with the social matrices that are inscribed as a precondition for writing such accounts, and also enables us to explore the dimension of the reception of these contents as a tensioning instance of the very social matrices textually activated by the actress and the researcher. The emphasis of these accounts on the rhetoric of informed health decisions helps us consider the implications of contemporary health practices in the United States through a logic of consumption. The bodily ontology introduced by genetics foregrounds a speculative notion of health that needs to be managed by individuals in everyday life. Furthermore, it is observed that the risks linked to genetic ontology, far from being universal parameters, are contextually produced and embody certain notions of femininity, class, and health models that endow them with social performativity.