Giving Blood

Giving Blood represents a new agenda for blood donation research. It explores the diverse historical and contemporary undercurrents that influence how blood donation takes place, and the social meanings that people attribute to the act of giving blood. Drawing from empirical studies conducted in the United States, Canada, France, Australia, China, India, Latin America and Africa, the book's chapters turn our attention to the evolution of blood donation worldwide, examining: - the impact of technology advances on blood collection practices - the shifting approaches to donor recruitment and retention - the governance and policy issues associated with the establishment of blood clinics - the political and legal challenges of regulating blood systems. This innovative examination moves the focus from individual explanations of rates of blood donation to a social, structural explanation. It will appeal to international scholars and students working in the areas of sociology, medical anthropology, health care, public policy, socio-legal studies, comparative politics, organizational management, health and illness, the history of medicine, and public health ethics.

Johanne Charbonneau is Professor at the Université INRS - Centre Urbanisation Culture et Société. André Smith is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Introduction: Blood donation and the Range of Historical and Institutional Trajectories by Johanne Charbonneau and André Smith Part I: The Evolution of Blood Clinics 1. "What Flows Between Us": Blood Donation and Transfusion in the United States (19th-20th Centuries) by Jean-Paul Lallemand-Stempak 2. History of Transfusion in Africa: Who Gave Blood? by William H. Schneider 3. Public Health Works: Blood Donation in Urban China by Vincanne Adams, Kathleen Erwin and Phuoc Le 4. The Contaminated Blood Affair in France: A Turning Point in Blood Donation by Sophie Chauveau Part II: The Institutional Politics of Donor Recruitment 5. The Marketing of Blood Donation: Organizational Discourse, Practice, and Symbolic Tension in a Blood Donation Clinic by André Smith 6. The Influence of Blood Collection Organizations on Blood Donation Motivations and Practices by Johanne Charbonneau and Anne Quéniart 7. Religion, Risk and Excess in the Indian Blood Donation Encounter by Jacob Copeman Part III: The Governance of Blood Donation: The Authority of State Control 8. Linking Medicine, Industry, Science, and Politics: The History of French Blood Donor Deferral Criteria by Renaud Crespin and Bruno Danic 9. Blood Donation in Australia: Altruism and Exclusion by Kylie Valentine 10. A Latin American Perspective on Blood Donation and Transfusion Systems by Maria Cristina Martinez Valenzuela and Carlos Alberto Sanchez 11. "She Is My Blood": Donation and Reciprocity in Trinidad by Vishala Parmasad Conclusion: Blood Donation in the Social World: Toward a Critical, Contextualized Paradigm of Understanding by André Smith and Johanne Charbonneau