Biopolitics Flashcards

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from the GEG306 Violent Geographies lecture on Biopolitics.

Biopolitics

A form of power that focuses on humans as a species, concerning itself with the human life-form and how to govern it.

Biopower

A technology of power that emerged in the mid-18th century, operating on the scale of human life as a species rather than individual bodies.

Sovereign Power

The power of life and death, where the individual's right to exist is at the whim of the sovereign; characterized by 'the right to take life or let live.'

Disciplinary Power

A form of power that emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries, focusing on controlling individuals through techniques like exercises and drills in spaces of enclosure such as prisons and schools.

Statistics

Invention used by the state to characterize its population through distributions, means, and standard deviations, identifying those at the statistical extremes as problems.

Racism (in Biopolitics)

Functions as a modern invention and an organ of the state that defines what must live and what must die, making the whole stronger by killing off weaker elements.

Agamben's concept of Bare Life (Zoe)

Mere existence, lacking sense or value, neither animal nor human, and characterized by being cast out and abandoned by law.

State of Exception

A situation resulting from the suspension of order, often exemplified by the 'camp,' where the state suspends the rule of law.

Bios

Ancient Greek notion for life referring to the form of life enjoyed by citizens of the polis, imbued with meaning, sense, and value.

Zoe

Ancient Greek notion for life referring to bare life; mere existence that lacks sense or value.

Homo Sacer

Roman legal figure: sacred, expelled, and thrown out of society, representing a form of bare life.

Bare Life's Paradox

Bare life is included in the political order precisely by being excluded; it exists at the margins of the law, neither fully inside nor outside.

Key Authors in Biopolitics

Michel Foucault (The History of Sexuality), Giorgio Agamben (Homo Sacer), Roberto Esposito (Bios, Biopolitics and Philosophy).

Agamben on COVID-19

Argues the pandemic was used to expand the 'state of exception,' normalizing increased surveillance and control over individuals' lives.

Invasive Species and Biopolitics

Invasive species can be seen through a biopolitical lens as threats to the health and stability of an ecosystem, justifying measures to control or eradicate them.

Biopolitics Detailed

Focuses on managing populations through biological mechanisms, such as public health, sanitation, and birth control, aiming to optimize the well-being and productivity of the population.

Biopower Detailed

Operates through various institutions and practices (e.g., medicine, public health) to manage, regulate, and control biological aspects of human life at the population level.

Disciplinary Power Detailed

Operates through observation, normalization, and examination to produce docile and useful bodies. Key elements include hierarchical observation, normalizing judgment, and the examination.

Sovereign Power Detailed

The ultimate authority to decide on matters of life and death; characterized by the ability to take life or let live. Historically associated with monarchs and states.