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Blood - Laurie Taylor explores the metaphorical, as well as material, reality of blood.

Blood - Laurie Taylor explores the metaphorical, as well as material, reality of blood. He's joined by Gil Anidjar, Professor of Religion and Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies at Columbia University, and author of a study which explores the relationship between the history of Christianity and blood. What are the social and political implications of the way in which Christian blood come to be associated with purity and kinship?

Also, Janet Carsten - Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, considers the extraordinary symbolic power of blood. She traces the multiple meanings of blood as it moves from donors to labs, hospitals, and patients in Penang, Malaysia, telling the stories of blood donors, lab staff and hospital workers. In the process, she shows that blood is a lens for understanding the entanglements of modern life.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Mon 29 Jun 2020 00:15

Guests

Further Reading

Blood: A Critique of Christianity by Gil Anidjar

Blood Work: Life and Laboratories in Penang by Janet Carsten

Broadcasts

  • Wed 24 Jun 2020 16:00
  • Mon 29 Jun 2020 00:15

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麻豆社 Thinking Allowed is produced in partnership with The Open University

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