Of Monsters and Monkeys: Queering the Study of Genetic Chimerism in Primates

Abstract

ABSTRACT Scientific research is a political enterprise, and is therefore susceptible to cultural biases. With its central role in understanding humans as a species, primatology is particularly vulnerable to this dynamic, requiring researchers to carefully assess both the influences shaping their work and the implications of their results. Here, I engage in this practice by critically examining the study of chimerism in callitrichid primates, a prominent model taxon in studies of human health and evolution. Chimerism, which refers to cells derived from two or more zygotic lineages within a single organism, is a defining feature of callitrichid biology. Chimerism also challenges the boundaries by which many biological categories are defined. Using the lens of queer monster theory, I investigate the relationship between the study of callitrichid chimerism and the conceptualization of callitrichid and human bodies, with particular attention to the role of “queer” sex and reproduction. I first discuss the origins of chimerism within biological discourse, showing how the biological chimera inherited “unnatural” connotations that continue to shape scientific research. I then examine how similar monster‐making practices surface in studies of callitrichids, arguing that patterns of omission and claims of exceptionalism serve to manage chimerism as a categorical threat. Finally, I explore the promises that callitrichid chimeras present as monstrous informants. I show that callitrichid chimeras can be used not only to expose the cultural boundary‐work structuring sex and reproduction, but to invite research practices that treat categorical deviation not as abnormal, but as evidence that these categories must be changed.