ITAL 4250

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  • Schedule of Classes - March 17, 2025 8:55AM EDT

ITAL 4250
Introduction to Biopolitics

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us of the relation between biological and the political, power and resistance, and life and death. Fifty years ago, the philosopher Michel Foucault offered two terms to describe it: biopolitics and biopower. In this introduction to both, we take up Foucault's writings on biopolitics in a series of interdisciplinary contexts, including but not limited to the philosophical, anthropological, and political. In addition to Foucault, w will be reading elaborations on what has been called the biopolitical paradigm from writers as diverse as Agamben, Arendt, Arif, Biehl, Butler, Esposito, Fassin, Mbembe, and Sloterdijk. Questions to be asked include how to describe relation between biopolitics and racism and in what ways has the pandemic altered our understanding of biopolitics.


Distribution Requirements (HA-AG), (HST-AS)

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: ANTHR 4450, ANTHR 7450, ITAL 6250

  • 3 Credits Opt NoAud

  • 18715 ITAL 4250   SEM 101

  •  
    • M
    • Aug 25 - Dec 8, 2025

    • Campbell, T

  • Instruction Mode: In Person