Citizenship, Identity, Blood Donation

Bibliographic Data

ID5111390
AuthorsKylie Valentine (0000-0003-4785-484X, UNSW Sydney, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume11
Issue2
Pages113-128
Publication date2005-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBody & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1357-034X • E-ISSN: 1460-3632
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1357034x05052464
OpenAlexW2039561629
LanguageEN
Citations received43
References cited7

Blood donation is broadly understood to be a public and altruistic act. However, new theories of citizenship and subjectivity suggest that the individual and embodied qualities of blood also need to be taken into account when examining donation. This article examines the relationship between public and private elements of blood donation. Donating blood is not an entirely public act, and does not provide an entirely impersonal resource. The embodied self is integral to public practices, and, equally, public domains are important to the constitution of private spaces. However, this study shows that recognition of the individuality of blood is often cast in moral terms. The exclusion of already marginalized people from donating blood presents a risk of further marginalization. If blood donation is understood to be a civic practice open to everyone, then it becomes too easy to see those who cannot donate as non-citizens. New vocabularies of difference are needed. It is an ongoing necessity that altruistic donors are valued; it is also important that those who cannot donate are not punished by this process of valuing

Aesthetics · Blood donor · Citizenship · Constitution · Donation · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Subjectivity · Blood donation and transfusion practices · Dietary Effects on Health · Law · Medicine · Organ Donation and Transplantation · Psychology · Social Psychology

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