Abstract:

Transplantation of body parts has long provoked debates in Egypt among various community leaders who most notably represent the institutions of medical care, the law, religion and politics. The debates include diverse issues stretching most significantly from the practical benefits of these advanced surgeries, to their contribution of preserving the overall integrity of society as a whole as they provide solutions to purely medical problems while simultaneously solving larger moral, social and ethical challenges. I consider these debates to be representations constituted by a discourse of power over the body, which I suggest to should be viewed not only as a skin-bound physical entity but more significantly as a space incarnating the moral, ethical and spiritual aspects of society at large. Furthermore, I suggest that this conceptualization, in which religion, the law and ethics play the most significant roles, throws doubt over materialist perspectives of embodiment and calls for further attention to the notion of ensoulment.

Author: Mohammed Tabishat