Circulating blood: a conversation between Stephanie Sodero and Richard Rackham on vital mobilities in the UK

ABSTRACT

Vital mobilities are goods that impact one’s life chances and that cannot be dematerialized. They must circulate externally in order to allow vital bodily circulations. Blood is a compelling and vital mobile material. It circulates impressive distances internally, within the body, and externally through the practices of donation and transfusion.

This interview is organized in three parts. First, we learn about the everyday mobilities entailed in blood between the point of donation and the point of care. Second, we discuss three exceptional events that impacted NHS Blood and Transplant: the Manchester bombing, the London Olympics and the Filton Flood. Finally, we conclude by reflect on how social science might inform a research relationship between academic theorization of vital mobilities, which centres on the question, “How do move things when it really matter?”  and the applied work of NHS Blood and Transplant.

KEYWORDS:

• Blood
• business continuity
• disruption
• resilience
• social sciences
• vital mobilities

Acknowledgments

With thanks to Tom Cowdrey, who provided a facility tour and interview input.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [756-2016-0591].