Managing potential selves: stem cells, immigrants, and German identity

In 2001 and 2002, Germans debated and legislated both immigration and the importation of stem cells for research. These two debates were driven by a sense of danger precipitated by developments in science and technology, and, in both, a rhetoric of crisis was countered by a rhetoric of potentiality. This article argues that, as Germany finds itself unable to reproduce the qualities that define it as a people, it seeks to import the potential for growth from elsewhere. The process by which this potentiality is purified and made admissible into German society reproduces, but also alters, existing understandings of German citizenship.