Veins
of Devotion
Price: $25.95
Subtitle: Blood Donation and Religious
Experience in North India
Author: Jacob Copeman
Subject: Anthropology
, Asian Studies , Religious Studies
Paper ISBN 978-0-8135-4449-6
Cloth ISBN 978-0-8135-4448-9
Pages: 264 pages , 13 illustrations
Series: Studies in Medical
Anthropology
Publication Date: February 2009
View the Table
of Contents
Praise for Veins of Devotion
“An excellent piece of
scholarship that synthesizes classic themes in the indological
literature—sacrifice, gift-giving, caste, asceticism, guru/chela
relationships—with the very contemporary and iconically modern,
biomedical procedure of blood donation.”—Joseph S. Alter, University of
Pittsburgh
“No book covers the same
terrain or anything close to what Copeman accomplishes with Veins of
Devotion. It is an extraordinarily smart book that sets the standard
for future work on biomoral exchange in anthropology.”
—Lawrence Cohen, University of California, Berkeley
"A very impressive
achievement. Copeman quite brilliantly illuminates some of the most
dramatic and important developments in contemporary Indian public life."
--James Laidlaw, Department of Social Anthropology, University of
Cambridge
Description:
Veins of Devotion
tells the story of recent remarkable collaborations between guru-led
devotional movements and public health campaigns to encourage voluntary
blood donation in northern India. Focusing primarily on Delhi, Jacob
Copeman carefully situates blood donation practices within the context
of religious gift-giving, sacrifice, caste, kinship, and nationalism.
The book analyzes the operations of several high-profile religious
orders that organize large-scale public blood-giving events and argues
that blood donation has become a site not only of frenetic competition
between different devotional movements, but also of intense spiritual
creativity.
Despite significant tensions between blood banks and these religious
groups, their collaboration is a singular success story—the nation’s
blood supply is replenished while blood donors discover new devotional
possibilities.
Drawing on the rich tradition of South Asianist scholarship, while also
engaging with recent innovations in social theory, Veins of Devotion
represents a striking and original contribution to the anthropology of
South Asia and to medical anthropology and religious studies more
generally.
About the Author:
Jacob Copeman
is a research fellow at Jesus College at Cambridge University in
England.
Receive
special offers and book notices by email. Sign up for RU READING?
Price: $25.95
|
