ANTH 435 - Biopolitics: The Governance of Life and Death

FC SSCI CD

4 credits
Philosopher Michel Foucault described biopolitics as a kind of politics aimed at fostering life or disallowing it to the point of death. In this class, students will examine work by medical anthropologists who apply the theoretical framework of biopolitics to analyze life and death in contemporary societies. We will consider biopolitics in a variety of political and economic contexts in relation to topics including food, pharmaceuticals, pandemics, human-animal relations, urban space, tobacco, traditional medicine, and humanitarianism.

Prerequisites: ANTH 227.