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Looking Forward, Looking Back
The narrative of testing positive to Huntington's Disease
Rose Leontini
School of Behavioural and Community Health Science, The University of Sydney, NSW
Abstract
Predictive testing for Huntington's Disease produces new subjectivities. In addition, receiving a gene-positive result induces new relationships towards one's body, close family members, and one's future.
In this article I examine the story of one woman who, following a gene-positive test result, described her search for 'signs' of disease, as well as ways in which to accommodate her new 'status'.
The narrative draws attention to how people who undergo a genetic test make sense of the anticipation of illness, how they experience the body in relation to that possibility, and how they negotiate the tension between the abstraction of genetic 'truths', and the materiality of a body.
Keywords
Huntington's Disease, predictive testing, narrative, sociology, Foucault
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