Asian (Bio)Values: Constructing Asian Difference and Biovalue in the Singapore Diabetes Discourse

Abstract

Existing studies demonstrate how biomedical researchers construct multiethnic populations as biovaluable. A multiethnic population with a diverse gene pool allows for the scaling of disease research and treatments to other countries. This “fact” serves an important role to attract investments in the national bioscientific sector. Yet these studies do not describe how such promissory narratives are translated for public consumption, an important step given how science policy requires public buy-in. My research asks how the relationship between Singapore and Asia is constructed as biovaluable through the media. Examining the media discourse on diabetes in Singapore, I find that the construction of biovalue in the media (1) relies on emotional and pragmatic appeals to Asian inclusivity in scientific research, (2) highlights biological Asian difference and market opportunities based on scaling, and (3) enacts the connection between Singapore and Asia in a distorted manner where ethnic minorities are sometimes excluded. This research builds on the existing literature on the political economy of the biosciences through examining the intersection between science policy, public health, race and ethnicity, and scientific communication in postcolonial nations such as Singapore, where the media plays an authoritative role in communicating scientific information to the public.