To what extent does the global trade in human organs reflect existing inequalities between rich and poor and between the Global North and Global South?
In our examination of bodily commodities, especially as they feed into the development of biotechnologies, we have considered the idea that inequalities fuel the trade in human organs. In this question, you will need to demonstrate your understanding of how inequality shapes access to life, medicines and biotechnology (and how different people enter into the organ trade for many different reasons). Key points to consider in this question are:
• You will need to set out your understanding of the global trade in human organs and explain how it is part of a broader system of bodily commodity production.
• You need to engage directly with the question i.e. it asks ‘to what extent’ do you agree with the assertion and as such is asking you to engage critically with this particular thesis.
• To answer this question you should demonstrate your understanding of the spatial and social patterning of recruitment and access to organs in different parts of the world; you are not being asked to just compare North and South, you should also be looking at inequalities within both regions.
Reading:
Core reading around human organ trade:
Cohen, L. (2005) ‘Operability, bioavailability and exception’ in Ong, A. and Collier, S. (eds.) Global Assemblages: Technology, Politics, and Ethics as Anthropological Problems. (Oxford, Blackwell), pp. 79-90
Moniruzzaman, M. (2012) Living ‘cadavers’ in Bangladesh: bioviolence in the human organ bazaar. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 26, 69-91.
Scheper-Hughes, N. (2000) The global traffic in human organs. Current Anthropology 41, 191-224.
Scheper-Hughes, N. (2005) ‘The last commodity: post-human ethics and the global traffic in “fresh” organs’ in Ong, A. and Collier, S. (eds.) Global Assemblages: Technology, Politics, and Ethics as Anthropological Problems. (Oxford, Blackwell): 145-167
Other useful texts:
Davies, G. (2006) Patterning the geographies of organ transplantation: corporeality, generosity and justice. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 31, 257-271 .
Kierans, C. (2011) Anthropology, organ transplantation and the immune system: resituating commodity and gift exchange. Social Science and Medicine 73 (10), 1469-1476.
Parry, B. (2007) Entangled exchange: Reconceptualising the characterisation and practice of bodily commodification Geoforum 39 (3), 1133-1144
Shannon, T. A. (2001) The kindness of strangers: organ transplantation in a capitalist age. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 11 (3), 285-303.
Shildrick, M. (2015) Staying alive: affect, identity and anxiety in organ transplantation. Body & Society 21, 20-41.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR PROMOTIONAL DISCOUNT DISPLAYED ON THE WEBSITE AND GET A DISCOUNT FOR YOUR PAPER NOW!