Evolution And History

Anthropology and Globalization 23

everybody’s life on the planet, globalization is about eco-

nomics as much as politics, and it changes human rela-

tions and ideas as well as our natural environments. Even

geographically remote communities are quickly becoming

interdependent through globalization.

Doing research in all corners of the world, anthropolo-

gists are confronted with the impact of globalization on

long-distance exchanges have picked up enormously in
recent decades; the Internet, in particular, has greatly ex-
panded information exchange capacities.
The powerful forces driving globalization are tech-
nological innovations, cost differences among countries,
faster knowledge transfers, and increased trade and fi-
nancial integration among countries. Touching almost

Globalscape

AFRICA

AUSTRALIA

ANTARCTICA

EUROPE

SOUTH

AMERICA

NORTH

AMERICA

Mandya

Brooklyn, New York

Atlantic Tel Aviv

Ocean

Pacific

Ocean

Pacific

Ocean

Arctic

Ocean

ASIA

Bangalore

Indian

Ocean

A Global Body Shop?

Lakshmamma, a mother in southern

India’s rural village of Holalu, near

Mandya, has sold one of her kidneys

for about 30,000 rupees ($650). This

is far below the average going rate of

$6,000 per kidney in the global organ

transplant business. But the broker

took his commission, and corrupt

officials needed to be paid as well.

Although India passed a law in 1994

prohibiting the buying and selling of

human organs, the business is boom-

ing. In Europe and North America,

kidney transplants can cost $200,000

or more, plus the waiting list for do-

nor kidneys is long, and dialysis is

expensive. Thus “transplant tourism,”

in India and several other countries,

caters to affluent patients in search

of “fresh” kidneys to be harvested

from poor people like Lakshmamma,

pictured here with her daughter.

The global trade network in organs

has been documented by Israeli film-

maker Nick Rosen, who sold his own

kidney for $15,000 through a broker

in Tel Aviv to a Brooklyn, New York,

dialysis patient. Rosen explained to

the physicians at Mt. Sinai Hospital

in New York City that he was donat-

ing his kidney altruistically. Medical

anthropologist Nancy Scheper-Hughes

has taken on the criminal and medical

aspects of global organ trafficking for

the past twenty years or so. She also

co-founded Organs Watch in Berkeley,

California, an organization working to

stop the illegal traffic in organs.

The well-publicized arrest of

Brooklyn-based organ broker Levy

Izhak Rosenbaum in July 2009—part

of an FBI sting operation that also

led to the arrest of forty-three other

individuals, including several public

officials in New Jersey—represents

progress made in combating illegal

trafficking of body parts. According to

Scheper-Hughes, “Rosenbaum wasn’t

the tip of an iceberg, but the end of

something.”a International crackdowns

and changes in local laws are begin-

ning to bring down these illegal global

networks.

Global Twister Considering that

$650 is a fortune in a poor village

like Holalu, does medical globaliza-

tion benefit or exploit people like

Lakshmamma who are looked upon

as human commodities? What factors

account for the different values placed

on the two donated kidneys?

a http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.

php?storyId=106997368.

AUSTRALIA

© K. Bhagya Prakash in Frontline

, Vol. 19, Issue 7

© Associated Press

Pacific

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