This book presents important concepts from medical and socio-cultural anthropology to health
professionals working with organ transplantation involving indigenous populations. Written by
an anthropologist and a nephrologist working at the Brazilian Amazon region it presents an
interdisciplinary approach merging perspectives from medical and socio-cultural anthropology
social epidemiology and clinical medicine to blend philosophical concerns around tissue and
organ exchange with transplant-related initiatives in order to help health professionals
develop care protocols that take into account the specific cultures of indigenous
populations.The approach proposed in this book is based on the assumption that there are other
concepts of bodies personhood health sickness and collectivity implicated in processes of
organ transplantation and health care in general that must be taken into consideration beyond
strictly biomedical perspectives. Such cultural aspects also imply challenges in terms of
bioethics and legislation given the need to respect indigenous cultures. So in order to offer
health professionals practical insights the book presents a review of the literature available
about experiences of organ transplantation in ethnically diverse countries and how the
professionals involved have addressed this diversity respecting these groups from a cultural
ethical and epidemiological point of view. Organ Transplantation and Native Peoples: An
Interdisciplinary Approach is primarily aimed at being a practical tool for health
professionals working with indigenous populations but will also be of interest to researchers
in different fields of the social and health sciences such as medical anthropology public
health nursing bioethics and epidemiology.
