Section: Social Anthropology

Jacob Copeman

Name
Dr Jacob Copeman
Title
Lecturer, Social Anthropology
Organisation
Social Anthropology, School of Social and Political Science
University of Edinburgh
Address
5.21 Chrystal Macmillan Building 15a George Square Edinburgh UK EH8 9LD
Telephone
+44 (0)131 650 6860
E-Mail
Research Interests
South Asia,Gurus,Atheism,Blood Donation,Tissue Economies,Social Reform,Media,Technology and society,India,Medical Anthropology,Names and Naming
URL
http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/staff/social_anthropology/jacob_copeman
Jacob Copeman
 SEMESTER 2 OFFICE HOUR: THURSDAYS 11.15 - 12.15
 

About 

Jacob Copeman has been Lecturer in Social Anthropology since 2009, having formerly been a Junior Research Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge. He has a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where he was supervised by Dr Susan Bayly. His publications include Veins of Devotion: Blood Donation and Religious Experience in North India (2009), Blood Donation, Bioeconomy, Culture (ed. 2009), and The Guru in South Asia: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives (co-ed. with Aya Ikegame, forthcoming in 2012 with Routledge). He is currently working on two further edited volumes: the first, a special issue of Theory, Culture & Society titled 'Social Theory after Strathern', the second a special issue of Contemporary South Asia titled 'South Asian Tissue Economies'. He retains an interest in interrelations between blood donation, kinship, devotional religion and social reform movements in the subcontinent whilst, in addition, pursuing two further research projects: one on anti-superstition activism, the other on the politics of names and naming - both centring on the Indian subcontinent. 

 

Books and edited collections 

2012. The Guru in South Asia: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives. London: Routledge. (Co-edited with Aya Ikegame) 

2009. (Ed.) Blood Donation, Bioeconomy, Culture. Special Issue of Body & Society (15, 2).

2009. Veins of Devotion: Blood Donation and Religious Experience in North India. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. * Reviewed in American Ethnologist, Biosocieties, Journal of Asian Studies, Medical Anthropology Quarterly and elsewhere. * Indian edition due in 2012 with Routledge. 

 

Articles and book chapters (Click here for access to individual articles)

2012. 'The Multifarious Guru: an introduction'. In J. Copeman and A. Ikegame (eds.) The Guru in South Asia: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives. London: Routledge. (With Aya Ikegame).

2012. 'The Mimetic Guru: tracing the real in Sikh-Dera Sacha Sauda relations'. In J. Copeman and A. Ikegame (eds.) The Guru in South Asia: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives. London: Routledge. 

2011. 'A Look at Blood Donor Motivation in the UK'. The Gift of Blood (bimonthly newsletter) 104 (July-Sept). Kolkata: Association of Voluntary Blood Donors, West Bengal.  

2011. 'Excessifs dons de sang: Dévotion et ascétisme en Inde'. Special Issue of Terrain ('Analyses de sang') edited by Stephen Hugh-Jones, 56 (March).

2011. 'The Gift and Its Forms of Life in Contemporary India'. Modern Asian Studies 45: 1041-1094.

2009. ‘Introduction: Blood Donation, Bioeconomy, Culture’. Body & Society: Special Issue on Blood Donation, Bioeconomy, Culture, ed. Jacob Copeman. 15, 2: 1-28.

2009. ‘Gathering Points: Blood Donation and the Scenography of “National Integration”’. Body & Society: Special Issue on Blood Donation, Bioeconomy, Culture, ed. Jacob Copeman. 15, 2: 71-99.

2009. ‘Blood, Blessings and Technology in India’. The Gift of Blood (bimonthly newsletter). Kolkata: Association of Voluntary Blood Donors, West Bengal. (Originally published in Cambridge Anthropology).

2008. ‘Sangue, benedizioni e tecnologia in India’. In F.Dei, M.Aria, G.L.Mancini eds., Il dono del sangue. Per un'antropologia dell'altruismo. Pisa: Pacini, pp.113-125. (Italian translation of ‘Blood, Blessings and Technology in India’, originally published in Cambridge Anthropology).

2008. ‘Violence, Non-Violence, and Blood Donation in India’. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 14: 277-295.

2008. ‘Veinglory: Exploring Processes of Blood Transfer Between Persons’. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Original article from 2005 re-published in themed virtual issue: Anthropology of the Gift. March 2008 - Vol. 14. (See http://www.wiley.com/bw/vi.asp?ref=1359-0987#176).

2006. ‘Cadaver Donation as Ascetic Practice in India’. Social Analysis 50, no. 1. 103-126.

2006. ‘Blood, Blessings and Technology in India’. Cambridge Anthropology 25, no. 3. 39-51.

2005. ‘Veinglory: Exploring Processes of Blood Transfer Between Persons’. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute N.S., no. 11. 465-485.

2004. ‘The “Hybrid” in Anthropology’. The Eastern Anthropologist 57, no. 3-4. 285-302.

2004. ‘“Blood Will Have Blood”: A Study in Indian Political Ritual’. Social Analysis 48, no. 3. 126-148.

 

 

 

Topics interested in supervising

I welcome enquiries from students interested in pursuing projects that relate to my broad interests in tissue economies/biological exchange, medical anthropology, technological cultures and radical social reform movements; and in aspects of South Asian society, especially caste and communal politics, 'guru cultures', and the politics of names and naming.

If you are interested in being supervised by Jacob Copeman, please see the links below for more information:

PhD in Social Anthropology; PhD in South Asian Studies

This page was published on 4 January 2012


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