On Face Transplantation Life and Ethics in Experimental Biomedicine

"The politics of medicine, the sociotechnical assembling of norms and harms, and the constitution of subjects are skilfully shown by Taylor-Alexander to be processes that are tightly interwoven - indeed, co-produced - in the experimental clinical praxis of face-transplantation. In this subtle book we confront key questions around identity and care that resist easy answers, and are invited into a world of operating theatres, drugs, scars and mirrors that few of us will encounter but which demand consideration and engagement." - Martyn Pickersgill, University of Edinburgh, UK

"With this poignant reflection on face transplants, Taylor-Alexander stretches the genre of anthropology of medicine [ ] prompting us to think again about the meaning of ethical treatment, and the mismatch of power between healer and healed, as biomedicine blurs the boundaries between life and death." - Sheila Jasanoff, Harvard Kennedy School, USA