Article,

Donations of Human Organs or Bodies After Death: A Cultural Phenomenology of "Flesh" in the Greek Context

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Ethos, 27 (3): 283-314 (1999)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/eth.1999.27.3.283

Abstract

Several body theorists focus on the precultural materiality of the body as flesh to argue against the discursively constructed, supposedly fleshless or imagined bodies of postmodernity. This article is about body perceptions of 24 people sharing an exceptionally fleshly and seemingly imagined experience: their determination to donate their organs or bodies after their death. Approaching prospective donation as a culturally elaborated, somatic, intersubjective practice, I argue, first, that flesh in itself does not guarantee the material immediacy of one's self presence. Second, that the imaginary body as flesh may be as much painfully or pleasantly experienced as the non-imaginary one.

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  • @gdmcbain
    2 years ago (last updated 2 years ago)
    "Also, donor membership is strictly confidential. As a consequence, I interviewed friends and acquaintances who happened to be donors." Which does not stop the author's inducing nor her supporting her conclusions with statistics.
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