‘I am only half alive’: Organ trafficking in Pakistan amid interlocking oppressions

Abstract

This article delves into the gendered/classed phenomenon of organ trafficking based on ethnographic and archival data from Pakistan. Drawing upon experiences of victims of organ trafficking, the authors situate trafficking for organ trade within a global–national–local political economy of human trafficking. They argue that the theoretical focus on women in discussions of gendered sex trafficking, and a separate discussion on labor trafficking contribute to the relative invisibility of organ trafficking which mostly targets poor men. Yet, organ trafficking is located within the same interlocking set of oppressions that perpetuate other forms of trafficking. The authors argue that, as sociologists, we have to shift our focus from the organs to the people whose organs are harvested and trafficked in order to develop a framework that views different forms of trafficking as a continuum.