The (re)presentation of minoritized ethnic groups in the blood procurement system

• In Event: Diversity and Inclusion through Nonprofit Organizations

Abstract

Ethnic groups are underrepresented in blood donor populations in Western countries. Existing research has mainly asked why these groups do not donate, identifying multiple barriers. However, the blood procurement system itself remains largely unquestioned. The prevailing focus has predominantly revolved around individual-level explanations, neglecting an examination of the contextual factors such as the social, cultural and institutional intertwined with the act of blood donation. Such one-sided focus risks depicting minoritized ethnic groups as not willing to donate, hence as less contributing citizens. This article revisits/ deconstructs the pillars of the blood procurement system in the light of an ever-diversifying population and how the system controls who is visible and who is not. Through in-dept interviews and observations, we look into the lived experiences from people from Moroccan and Turkish descendant in Belgium and how they give meaning to their (re)presentation in the blood procurement systems in Belgium. We build further on previous research regarding the presence of ethnic groups in the blood procurement system, in which we conducted frame analysis on blood collection agency websites. Focusing on the visibility and (re)presentation of these groups and how they experience this, we ask how the system itself might create a homogenous donor population instead of a population that reflects our multicultural societies. Secondly, this article seeks to understand how the (re)presentation in the blood procurement system and donating blood itself influence the position in society of these groups and how they see themselves as active and/ or engaged citizens in the multicultural society Belgium is. By looking at the relationality of visibility and acts of solidarity, we look at how the (re)presentation of these citizens leads to exclusionary practices in institutions of solidarity.

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Authors

• Toyah Van der Poten, Ghent University, Centre for the social study of migration and refugees

• Lesley Hustinx, Ghent University