Reproductive politics, biopolitics and auto-immunity: From Foucault to Esposito
Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 7 (2):217-226 (2010)
| Abstract | The contingent cultural, epistemological and ontological status of biology is highlighted by changes in attitudes towards reproductive politics in the history of feminist movements. Consider, for example, the American, British, and numerous European instances of feminist sympathy for eugenics at the turn of the century. This amounted to a specific formation of the role, in late nineteenth and early twentieth century feminisms, of concepts of biological risk and defence, which were transformed into the justificatory language of rights claims. In this context, one can ask how reproductive politics are to be fitted into the paradoxical relationship between biopolitics and thanatopolitics discussed by Michel Foucault and more recently by Roberto Esposito. In this context, “reproductive life,” can be thought of arising at the intersection of thanapolitics and biopolitics as these relate to women’s bodies. Revisiting Foucault and Esposito in the light of reproductive politics also allows a reconsideration of the paradoxical feminist aims involved in defending individual rights by reference to overall biopolitical interest and futurity. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,701 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesR. Farneti (2011). The Immunitary Turn in Current Talk on Biopolitics: On Roberto Esposito's Bios. Philosophy and Social Criticism 37 (8):955-962.
Michael Dillon & Andrew W. Neal (eds.) (2008). Foucault on Politics, Security and War. Palgrave Macmillan.
Clare Hanson (2008). Biopolitics, Biological Racism and Eugenics. In Stephen Morton & Stephen Bygrave (eds.), Foucault in an Age of Terror: Essays on Biopolitics and the Defence of Society. Palgrave Macmillan.
Julian Reid (2008). Life Struggles : War, Discipline, and Biopolitics in the Thought of Michel Foucault. In Michael Dillon & Andrew W. Neal (eds.), Foucault on Politics, Security and War. Palgrave Macmillan.
John Marks (2008). Michel Foucault : Biopolitics and Biology. In Stephen Morton & Stephen Bygrave (eds.), Foucault in an Age of Terror: Essays on Biopolitics and the Defence of Society. Palgrave Macmillan.
Alex Houen (2008). Sovereignty, Biopolitics and the Use of Literature : Michel Foucault and Kathy Acker. In Stephen Morton & Stephen Bygrave (eds.), Foucault in an Age of Terror: Essays on Biopolitics and the Defence of Society. Palgrave Macmillan.
Robert Sinnerbrink (2005). From Machenschaft to Biopolitics: A Genealogical Critique of Biopower. Critical Horizons 6 (1):239-265.
Miguel Vatter (2011). Married Life, Gay Life as a Work of Art, and Eternal Life: Toward a Biopolitical Reading of Benjamin. Philosophy and Rhetoric 44 (4):309-335.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-05-15Total downloads59 ( #16,439 of 549,118 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,361 of 549,118 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
