Aryn Martin
Associate Professor
Office: 230 York Lanes
Phone: 416-736-2100
Email: aryn@yorku.ca
Aryn Martin works in social and historical studies of biomedicine, as well as feminist theory. In diverse empirical sites where lab meets world, her research is anchored by theoretical attention to language, classification, individuation (and its opposites), and the entanglements of social relations and biological materiality. In work that appears in Social Studies of Science, Osiris, Social Problems, Body & Society and elsewhere, Aryn has written about human genetic chimaeras, maternal-fetal microchimerism, immunology and pregnancy as phenomena that trouble biological and political notions of the individual. Other projects explore the material-semiotic history of bodily “barriers” (placental and blood-brain); the emerging “epidemic” of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) in North American contact sports, and the social and political contingencies of naming disease entities.
Degrees
Ph.D., Science & Technology Studies, Cornell UniversityM.A., Science & Technology Studies, Cornell University
M.E.S., Environmental Studies, York University
B.Sc.H., Life Sciences (First Class Honours), Queen's University
Appointments
Faculty of Graduate StudiesProfessional Leadership
Associate Dean Students, Faculty of Graduate Studies (2017-2023)
Graduate Program Director, Science and Technology Studies (2014-2017)
Research Interests
Martin, Aryn. 2011. “Science as Culture” In Power and Everyday Practices. Edited by Deborah Brock, Rebecca Raby, and Mark Thomas. Scarborough: Nelson.
Martin, Aryn and Mary Simms. 2011. “Labeling Lisbeth: Sti(e)gma and Spoiled Identity” In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Philosophy. Edited by Eric Bronson. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.
Review of Susan Lederer’s (2008) Flesh and Blood. Organ Transplantation and Blood Transfusion in 20th Century America Oxford: Oxford University Press. Isis 101(1): 238-239.
Martin, Aryn and Alasdair McMillan. 2020. “Concussion killjoys: CTE, violence and the brain’s becoming.” BioSocieties (Online First).
Martin, Aryn, Natasha Myers and Ana Viseu. 2015. “The Politics of Care in Technoscience.” Social Studies of Science 45(5): 1-17.
Martin, Aryn and Kelly Holloway. 2014. “’Something there is that does not love a wall’: Histories of the placental barrier.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (Special issue on “Transforming Pregnancy Since 1900”), 47 Pt B:300-10. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2013.11.008.
Martin, Aryn. 2011. “’Your Mother’s Always With You’: Material Feminism and Fetomaternal Microchimerism.” Resources for Feminist Research / Documentation sur la Recherche Féministe (Special issue on The Nature of Feminist Science Studies) 33 (3&4).
Martin, Aryn. 2010. “Microchimerism in the Mother(land): Blurring the Borders of Body and Nation in Fetomaternal Cell Trafficking.” Body and Society 16(3): 23-50.
Martin, Aryn and Michael E. Lynch. 2009. “Counting Things and People: The Practices and Politics of Counting.” Social Problems 56(2): 243-266.
Martin, Aryn. 2007. “The Chimera of Liberal Individualism: How Cells Became Selves in Human Clinical Genetics.” Osiris (Issue on the Self as Political and Scientific Project) Vol. 22: 205-222.
Martin, Aryn. 2007. “‘Incongruous Juxtapositions’: The Chimaera and Mrs. McK.” Endeavour 31(3): 99-103.
Martin, Aryn and Kelly Holloway. “'Something There is That Doesn't Love a Wall': The Elusive Placental Barrier in Medical and Popular Discourse” Workshop: Transforming Pregnancy Since 1900, Cambridge University, March 2012.
Martin, Aryn. “Going Belly Up: Affective Costs of North American SIDS Prevention Campaigns Since the 1990’s” Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Amherst, 2011.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 | AP/SOCI4072 3.0 | A | Sociology of Human Reproduction | SEMR |
| Fall 2024 | AP/SOCI4470 3.0 | A | Bodies, Genders and Sexualities | LECT |
Aryn Martin works in social and historical studies of biomedicine, as well as feminist theory. In diverse empirical sites where lab meets world, her research is anchored by theoretical attention to language, classification, individuation (and its opposites), and the entanglements of social relations and biological materiality. In work that appears in Social Studies of Science, Osiris, Social Problems, Body & Society and elsewhere, Aryn has written about human genetic chimaeras, maternal-fetal microchimerism, immunology and pregnancy as phenomena that trouble biological and political notions of the individual. Other projects explore the material-semiotic history of bodily “barriers” (placental and blood-brain); the emerging “epidemic” of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) in North American contact sports, and the social and political contingencies of naming disease entities.
Degrees
Ph.D., Science & Technology Studies, Cornell UniversityM.A., Science & Technology Studies, Cornell University
M.E.S., Environmental Studies, York University
B.Sc.H., Life Sciences (First Class Honours), Queen's University
Appointments
Faculty of Graduate StudiesProfessional Leadership
Associate Dean Students, Faculty of Graduate Studies (2017-2023)
Graduate Program Director, Science and Technology Studies (2014-2017)
Research Interests
All Publications
Martin, Aryn. 2011. “Science as Culture” In Power and Everyday Practices. Edited by Deborah Brock, Rebecca Raby, and Mark Thomas. Scarborough: Nelson.
Martin, Aryn and Mary Simms. 2011. “Labeling Lisbeth: Sti(e)gma and Spoiled Identity” In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Philosophy. Edited by Eric Bronson. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.
Review of Susan Lederer’s (2008) Flesh and Blood. Organ Transplantation and Blood Transfusion in 20th Century America Oxford: Oxford University Press. Isis 101(1): 238-239.
Martin, Aryn and Alasdair McMillan. 2020. “Concussion killjoys: CTE, violence and the brain’s becoming.” BioSocieties (Online First).
Martin, Aryn, Natasha Myers and Ana Viseu. 2015. “The Politics of Care in Technoscience.” Social Studies of Science 45(5): 1-17.
Martin, Aryn and Kelly Holloway. 2014. “’Something there is that does not love a wall’: Histories of the placental barrier.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (Special issue on “Transforming Pregnancy Since 1900”), 47 Pt B:300-10. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2013.11.008.
Martin, Aryn. 2011. “’Your Mother’s Always With You’: Material Feminism and Fetomaternal Microchimerism.” Resources for Feminist Research / Documentation sur la Recherche Féministe (Special issue on The Nature of Feminist Science Studies) 33 (3&4).
Martin, Aryn. 2010. “Microchimerism in the Mother(land): Blurring the Borders of Body and Nation in Fetomaternal Cell Trafficking.” Body and Society 16(3): 23-50.
Martin, Aryn and Michael E. Lynch. 2009. “Counting Things and People: The Practices and Politics of Counting.” Social Problems 56(2): 243-266.
Martin, Aryn. 2007. “The Chimera of Liberal Individualism: How Cells Became Selves in Human Clinical Genetics.” Osiris (Issue on the Self as Political and Scientific Project) Vol. 22: 205-222.
Martin, Aryn. 2007. “‘Incongruous Juxtapositions’: The Chimaera and Mrs. McK.” Endeavour 31(3): 99-103.
Martin, Aryn and Kelly Holloway. “'Something There is That Doesn't Love a Wall': The Elusive Placental Barrier in Medical and Popular Discourse” Workshop: Transforming Pregnancy Since 1900, Cambridge University, March 2012.
Martin, Aryn. “Going Belly Up: Affective Costs of North American SIDS Prevention Campaigns Since the 1990’s” Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Amherst, 2011.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 | AP/SOCI4072 3.0 | A | Sociology of Human Reproduction | SEMR |
| Fall 2024 | AP/SOCI4470 3.0 | A | Bodies, Genders and Sexualities | LECT |
