The Embodiment of Citizenship: From Good Samaritan to Donor Citizen

Citizenship became the cornerstone of the contemporary public health agenda according to Petersen and Lupton (2000:61). They argue that the concept of citizenship is a term that is contingent with the demands of the surrounding society. As a result, modern citizenship must be reconceptualised as a both conscious and increasingly corporeal attribute (Novas and Rose, 2003; Rabinow and Rose, 2006). In applying these contemporary concepts of citizenship, this paper provides evidence of the changing conceptualization of blood donation in the United Kingdom. Donating blood is shown to be a form of active citizenship, and to be deferred from doing so has a direct impact on individuals’ freedom to donate and thus community membership (Titmuss, 1997). Using data from a qualitative ethnographic study of Blood Donation (Mahon-Daly, 2012) challenges the orthodoxy of altruism, seeking new understanding of blood donation as the practice of an active embodied citizenship.

Keywords: citizenship, blood donation, altruism, embodiment, deferment.