Women, Biomedical Research and Art

Applying phenomenological notions of the body, this study investigates intersectional vulnerabilities, socio-geographical and racial injustices, as well as the potential of trauma in reproductive medicine, human trafficking and black-market organ trades in a local and global context. The author develops a post-colonial critique of what she calls ‘flesh piracy’ through the fine-tuned analyses of individual embodied experiences and also by inviting readers to ex¬periment with embodied exercises, thereby providing hands-on tools that can emphasize dignity and integrity, and support self-effica¬cy and human rights in the everyday lives of (not only) affected populations. Tying diverse readers’ embodied selves to developments in science, art, diverse media, politics and global eco¬nomics, this book provides a well-rounded and ac¬cessible study of injustices and individual opportu¬nities for solidarity in the highly complex field of the life sciences.

Solidarity researcher Ninette Rothmüller is currently based at the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies at the University of California in Santa Barbara, USA.