Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Awards

 

How did the act of blood donation transform from a “suspicious transaction” to become a “civic virtue” in post-WWII Iran? Drawing on a range of sources, including oral interviews and archives located in Iran, Samin Rashidbeigi has produced a rigorous study that traces how Iranians became convinced to donate blood to the state for the benefit of strangers. “Convictions and Persuasions” first relates the shift in the conceptualization of blood in the early twentieth century and reconstructs the history of the bureaucratization of blood transfusion. Rashidbeigi proceeds to explore how, in the sixties and seventies, blood donorship culture developed, leading to the emergence of the troubling figure of the professional, paid blood donor. It turns out that these professional donors and their commercialized blood also shared an unexpected history with the Iranian National Blood Transfusion Service (INBTS), which Rashidbeigi skillfully uncovers (and respectfully relates) by examining the INBTS archive and corroborating its contents with oral interviews. This journey from aversion to embrace of blood donation was a joy to read; it is also founded on solidly executed research.

 

The dissertation was completed at Princeton University in the Department of Near Eastern Studies under the supervision of Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi