“Contesting the body in the Egyptian organ transplant debate” by Sherine Hamdy (Anthropology, Brown University)

Abstract

In Egypt debates over the ethical nature of transplantation have waged since the first kidney transplant to occur in Egypt in 1976. Drawing a comparison with the ways in which North American media depictions of transplantation have been "enchanted" through the compelling metaphors of gifting and saving lives, I demonstrate that in Egypt the commodification of human flesh has been unmasked by opposition party newspapers, as grievances against an irresponsible state. In this context, a popular Muslim preacher, Shaykh Sharawi, spoke against organ transplantation by noting that the human body is divine property, and thus one cannot donate something one does not own. The statement that "the body belongs to God" came to stand in as a challenge against notions of the body as property, the interchangeability of human body parts, the technological imperative to transcend mortality, and the efficacy and safety of transplantation. While all major Islamic scholars declared organ transplants to be religiously permissible, the controversy over organ transplantation in Egypt forces a re-consideration of where Islamic authority lies.

About the Author

Sherine Hamdy is a post-doctoral fellow and Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology, Brown University. Her recent publications include: ‘Medical anthropology and Islamic Bioethics’ in Islamic Bioethics, ed. Hamada Hamid (Altamira Press, 2006); ‘Re-thinking Muslim legal-ethics in Egypt's Organ Transplant Debate’, in Mapping Muslim Ethics, ed. Brett Wilson and Youshaa Patel (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2006); ‘Science and Modern Islamic Discourses: Overview’, Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, General Editor Suad Joseph, (Vol. 3, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2005); and ‘Blinding Ignorance: Medical Science, Diseased Eyes and Religious Practice in Egypt’. Arab Studies Journal, Vol.12, No.2 (2004).

Contact and Further Links

Contact Information: 
Sherine Hamdy
Department of Anthropology
Box 1921
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912 USA