PAUL ATKINSON

Paul Atkinson is Distinguished Research Professor in Sociology at Cardiff University, where he is also Associate director of the ESRC Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics. His recent publications include: Everyday Arias: An Operatic Ethnography, Risky Relations (Katie Featherstone, Aditya Bharadwaj, Paul Atkinson and Angus Clarke) and the third edition of Ethnography: Principles in Practice (Martyn Hammersley and Paul Atkinson). His new book, written with Sara Delamont and William Housley is Contours of Culture and will be published by AltaMira early in 2008. He and Sara Delamont edit the journal Qualitative Research.

Background to paper:

My presentation is based on research conducted in Cardiff with Katie Featherstone, Maggie Gregory, Aditya Bharadwaj and Rebecca Dimond. Over the course of a series of projects we have worked with families with genetic conditions, risks and susceptibilities. We have explored family members’ constructions of relatedness, interpretations of genetic advice and understandings of inheritance. I use this research as a starting-point in making some brief observations about the disciplinary bases for interdisciplinary work.