“Biopolitics” in “2021 Literary Criticism Dictionary” on Manifold

Biopolitics

by Robert Siuta

Biopolitics is a concept that describes the mixture of human life and politics. As of recently, biopolitics has taken a much bigger form, as political figures are making decisions about people's bodies almost every day, with regards to abortion laws, ICE putting people in cages, etc. One of the main voices of biopolitics is Michel Foucault, a writer who has authored many works on biopolitics. The main idea Foucault brings up, according to Rachel Adams’ “Michel Foucault: Biopolitics and Biopower” is how biopolitics often has a skewed lens due to authority and who is in power. Authority always outweighs knowledge, meaning those with knowledge (but without any authority) essentially have nothing to do with the knowledge they possess. This has become a problem in modern day society, as those with the authority outweigh those with knowledge, perseverance, and passion. Across the United States, especially in 2020, there have been movements that almost seem to be dissipating due to the fact that those holding the authority, the government, don’t agree with them. Movements such as “Black Lives Matter'' and movements dedicated to social equality not only among race but sexual orientation, specifically those in the LGBTIAP+ category, have seen their voices muted. Biopolitics has been used throughout the 20th and 21st century, from the Nazis using it to control the bodies of those they occupied, to various writers using it in their work, most notably Foucault, as well as many political figures today.

Primary Reading:

Adams, Rachel. “Michel Foucault: Biopolitics and Biopower.” Critical Legal Thinking, May 10th, 2017, criticallegalthinking.com/2017/05/10/michel-foucault-biopolitics-biopower/

Anthrobiopolitcs. “The Anthropology of Biopolitics”, Wordpress, January 21st, 2013, https://anthrobiopolitics.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/biopolitics-an-overview/

Foucalt, Michel. The Birth of Biopolitics. St Martin’s Press, 1979.