Intermediaries of Globalisation. Practices of Regulation and Actors in the Global Field of Cornea Transplantation

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The project analyses global dynamics in the field of tissue transplantation, using the example of human cornea, and will contribute to an understanding of the formation, realisation and regulation of global entanglements in relation to the usage of human biological material. In contrast to organ donation, tissue donation and -exchange follow slightly different logics. The project will reconstruct, how actors in the field of cornea transplantation act context-specifically, how they create and maintain agency, and which modes of reasoning exist. We will conduct document-, literature- and statistical analysis and combine them with field work in the USA and Sri Lanka. These regions were chosen based on their specific ratios between the number of cornea procured, exported, imported and transplantated, using a most-different-approach. In a first step, the respective regulatory context and statistical characteristics will be analysed. In a second step, the respective actors in the field of cornea transplantation will be mapped out. In a last step, the respective positions will be compared, using qualitative interviews. The project contributes to recent research on globalisation and to the discipline of medical geography.