Rethinking Political Bodies: A Workshop

Date/Time
Friday - Sunday
7 Oct - 9 Oct 2016

Location
Faculty Club

Event Type
Non-CSTMS Event


The relationship between biological concepts and political concepts is longstanding — the “body politic” has always been a dominant metaphor for theorizations of political community. However, organicist models of the state have been thoroughly tainted by 19th and early 20th century ideas of unity, homogeneity, and racial purity. Today, bio-politics is a ubiquitous frame for analysis, yet the biological dimension is often underdeveloped. This workshop takes as its starting point the idea that modern biological concepts provide important resources for thinking about organization, order, control, and other key political problems. Papers will explore new links between bodies and political configurations, on the ground and within theoretical discourses. (Contact David Bates [dwbates@berkeley.edu] for access to pre-circulated papers.) See full agenda here.

This event is sponsored by: Rhetoric Department