Bioethics and Organ Transplantation in a Muslim Society: A Study in Culture, Ethnography, and Religion

acknowledgments

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are innumerable people who helped to bring this book into existence; they live in worlds separated by more than merely the span of the Atlantic Ocean. My thanks in Pakistan go to the many patients and their family members who allowed me into their lives and were willing to share their most personal thoughts, memories, and experiences with me. I am also immensely indebted to the many physicians and staff members of the Karachi institute where I did my ¤eldwork for their wholehearted help and for their incredible generosity in adopting me as one of the “family.” A special thanks to the director for opening every door I approached and, above all, for having suf¤cient faith in me to let me undertake in his institution sociological research, which is a rarity in the country. In Karachi, I also appreciate Aamir Jafarey’s efforts (admittedly with equivocal results ) to “free up” my time for the ¤nal stages of writing this book. On the eastern shores of the Atlantic, my thanks to Jim Childress, teacher, colleague, and friend, who was there to help but let me chart my own course. My appreciation to Ravindra Khare, Margaret Mohrmann, and Abdulaziz Sachedina for their support at various stages of my research. For Renee Fox, friend, mentor, and intellectual guide, I do not have words adequate enough to express my gratitude. She was with me “in the ¤eld” in spirit and read everything I FedExed to her from Karachi to Philadelphia after I demolished her fax machine by the volume of my notes. My thanks also to Judith Swazey, especially for her help with a dif¤cult passage in the writing of this book. I would like to acknowledge (for mysterious reasons known to a select few) my two nieces—the scintillating Taymiya R. Zaman and the salt of the earth Jawziya F. Zaman. They were indeed with me during the writing of this book, but in ways they will comprehend one day. But above all, it is to my behna, my sister Riffat Moazam Zaman, that I owe the most. She provided me, as always, with un- questioning emotional support and rigorous intellectual critique throughout my research and while I was writing this book. She also ensured that I had well-cooked meals and tea available as I worked through the night. She understands. x Acknowledgments Bioethics and Organ Transplantation in a Muslim Society ...