In this article we try to show the troublesome relation between biopolitcs, biopower and human rights in Michel Foucault. The notion of right is a classical notion, insofar as it pertains to the juridical conception of politics and to the techniques of sovereign power. On the other side, the idea of the human animal as human being appears only in Modernity, within the different dispositives that constitute what Foucault called the modern biopower. Therefore, talking of human rights one puts together the idea of right and the idea of human being, i.e. two notions belonging to two historically distinct techniques of power. In the awareness of this distinction, one has to question why Foucault, in face of what was going on in his days, did nevertheless appeal – against governments – to the rights of those who are governed. Classical right may have nothing to do with biopolitics; however with regard to the so-called human rights we cannot claim the same.
This theoretical article consists on an evaluation of de Daniela Arbex's journalistic investigation about the Colônia Hospital's operation in Barbacena, Minas Gerais, as from the thinker Michel Foucault's biopolitics analyses. This institution's internment process represents, from the foucaultians researches about the deal with madness on modern Europe, a solid example of the biopolitics' operation in Brazil, more specifically with regard to its groundwork "make live and let die". We compare the therapeutic care project own medical knowledge with the procedures used in this internment environment on Brazil twentieth century. Thus, we approached the split to State racism when the Colônia takes on the function not anymore of "let die", but of "make die", among biopower techniques. Lastly, we considered the role of the anti-asylum fighting organizes in Brazil, on the 1990's decade as alternative to internment, however ends up promoting, on its turn, other normalizations.
The coronavirus pandemic which changed the lives of people around the world unveiled surprising "elective affinities" between the critics of the State of exception and the fans of the State of exception. This work discusses why the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben presented theses about the pandemic that most resemble the negationist speeches of the president of Brazil. More than a mere mistaken political analysis of the pandemic, we understand that the theses defended by Agamben stem from the very theory of biopolitics that the philosopher developed in his most celebrated texts. In this article, we first seek to specify the foundations of the theory of biopolitics developed by Agamben. In a second moment, we show how the ideas of the Italian philosopher are aligned with what has been defended by President Bolsonaro. Finally, we explain why Agamben's texts on the pandemic are a logical consequence of what he had developed in his theory of biopolitics.
The 2007 publication, 'Homo Sacer II', 2, 'Il Regno e la Glória', is milestone in agambenana work. On the one hand, the project Homo Sacer that was to the genealogy of political power rides to new and decisive dimension: the paradigm of economic theology, which helps to explain more precisely the relationship between the kingdom and the government, and the reaches the biopolitical diagnosis. On the other hand, Agamben believes to have found this book the arcana of power: the glory. The conception of politic as administration, ὀιχονομία, government in which the omnipresence of the economy expands for all aspects of social life is index-cloaking movement that reaches the glory its maximum expression.
Esse texto reflete sobre a institucionalização da educação no projeto da modernidade a partir de conceitos oriundos da obra de Michel Foucault, como disciplina, sociedade disciplinar e biopolítica. A partir dessa reflexão sobre a formação da instituição educacional moderna como objeto de investigação histórico e localizado temporalmente, o texto assume o desafio de pensar as transformações que ocorreram nas últimas décadas e transformaram o projeto educacional moderno, constituindo a chamada pedagogia do controle. Essa reflexão se deu a partir dos conceitos foucaultianos de governamentalidade e biopolítica, além do conceito deleuziano de sociedade de controle. Além desse diagnóstico do presente, o texto também oferece um ensaio sobre as possibilidades de uma educação a partir da diferença e da pedagogia queer.
This paper makes a theoretical reflection of exploratory character, about obesity nowadays. It outlines the main control policies on body modeling in our times, emphasizing the relevance of the moralization of beauty. It also analyzes the new social dictates, led by media coverage of the image through the digital spaces, leading to the overexposure of bodies and forms. It finally seeks to understand how our culture contributes to the increasing number of people seeking bariatric surgery, as a way out of obesity. The authors point out the possible psychological damages as well as its impacts on the subjectivity.
As questões políticas e estéticas que emergem da prática ativista feminista, expressa no estudo de caso que vamos analisar: imagens/fotografias/memes postados no perfil do Instagram da personagem/performer Ex-Miss Febem, criada pela artista e ativista Aleta Valente. Nesse contexto, refletiremos as noções de Beatriz Preciado de "tecnologias do gênero" e "contrassexualidade" na construção de um pós-feminismo. ; The political and aesthetic issues that emerge from feminist activist practice, expressed in the case study that we are going to analyze: images/photographs/memes posted in the Instagram profile of the character/performer Ex-Miss Febem, created by the artist and activist Aleta Valente. In this context, we will reflect Beatriz Preciado's notions of "gender technologies" and "counter-sexuality" in the construction of a post-feminism.
O trabalho teve por objetivo analisar a noção de vulnerabilidade utilizada pela bioética para debater as pesquisas com seres humanos na atualidade, a partir de uma reflexão acerca da biopolítica na cultura contemporânea. Para isto, partiu-se da leitura de Giorgio Agamben dos modelos de poder foucaultianos - Soberania e Biopolítica - para, em seguida, analisar a noção de vida nua - "vida sem nenhum valor". Se os dispositivos de poder nas democracias modernas conjugam estratégias biopolíticas com a emergência da força do poder soberano que transforma a vida em vida nua, é fato que a bioética deve ser um instrumento de proteção das pessoas vulneradas. No entanto, além do território do estado do direito, a bioética também deve poder penetrar nas zonas de indiferenciação, onde soberania e técnica se misturam, profanando a fronteiras biopolíticas e problematizando a própria condição de vulnerabilidade. ; The study had the objective of analyzing the notion of vulnerability that is used by bioethics to debate research involving human beings today, from reflections on biopolitics in contemporary culture. For this, the starting point was Giorgio Agamben's reading of Foucault's model of power (Sovereignty and Biopolitics), with the aim of subsequently analyzing the notion of bare life: "life without any value". If the devices of power in modern democracies conjoin biopolitical strategies with the emergence of the strength of sovereign power that transforms life into bare life, in fact bioethics must be an instrument for protecting people who have become vulnerable. Nevertheless, beyond the territory of the rule of law, bioethics must also penetrate the undifferentiated zones where sovereignty and techniques become mixed, disrespecting the frontiers of biopolitics and questioning the condition of vulnerability itself.
Neste artigo, buscaremos explicitar algumas das relações entre luz e biopolítica na cidade moderna e na contemporânea. Consideramos a luz como uma estimulação externa capaz não apenas de atingir e sensibilizar os corpos como também de agir, de diversas formas e em diferentes graus, sobre eles. A partir dessa premissa, nos perguntaremos de que maneira, na modernidade e na contemporaneidade, as materialidades e práticas luminosas do espaço urbano teriam a capacidade de influenciar, determinar, capturar, vigiar, disciplinar e controlar as opiniões, discursos e práticas dos indivíduos. Com o intuito de esboçar alguns elementos parciais de resposta a essa abrangente problemática, buscaremos demonstrar, em um primeiro momento, de que maneira a iluminação pública da Paris moderna poderia ser encarada como uma tecnologia disciplinar. Em seguida, nos perguntaremos de que modo a luz poderia, ainda na contemporaneidade, participar de diversas estratégias de poder. A partir de Paul Virilio (2002), argumentaremos que houve um deslocamento nas estratégias de controle por meio da luz em relação a épocas anteriores. Retomando uma distinção proposta pelo autor, queremos delinear dois regimes: o primeiro, oriundo da modernidade, que se caracterizaria pelo emprego de "luz direta"; ao qual se acrescentaria hoje um segundo regime de "luz indireta", próprio às sociedades de controle. Desse modo, procuraremos desnaturalizar nossa relação com a luz, no contexto da cultura ocidental, e reconhecer seu protagonismo ao serviço de foto-políticas, termo que propomos para designar algumas das instrumentalizações (bio)políticas da luz. Por fim, analisando obras e práticas luminosas insurgentes da contemporaneidade, buscaremos refletir sobre possíveis estratégias através das quais poderiam ser erguidas contraluzes. ; In this article, we seek to explain some of the relationships between light and biopolitics in modern and contemporary cities. We consider light as an external stimulation capable of not only impacting and sensitizing bodies, but also influencing them in different ways and to different degrees. Based on this premise, we ask ourselves how, in modernity and in contemporary times, the luminous materialities and practices of urban space have the capacity to influence, determine, capture, monitor, discipline and control the opinions, discourses and practices of individuals. In order to outline some partial elements of response to this wide-ranging problem, we first try to demonstrate how public lighting in modern Paris can be considered a disciplinary technology. Then, we ask how light can, even today, participate in different power strategies. Starting with Paul Virilio (2002), we argue that there has been a shift in control strategies through light in relation to previous times. Subsequently, a distinction is proposed by the author, outlining two regimes: the first, coming from modernity, is characterized by the use of "direct light"; to this, we can now add a second regime of "indirect light", characteristic of societies of control. Thereby, we attempt to denaturalize our relationship with light, in the context of western culture, and recognize its role in the service of photo-politics, a term that we propose to designate some of the (bio)political instrumentalizations of light. Finally, analyzing contemporary insurgent luminous artworks and practices, we reflect on the possible strategies through which insurgent lights could be raised.
Neste artigo, buscaremos explicitar algumas das relações entre luz e biopolítica na cidade moderna e na contemporânea. Consideramos a luz como uma estimulação externa capaz não apenas de atingir e sensibilizar os corpos como também de agir, de diversas formas e em diferentes graus, sobre eles. A partir dessa premissa, nos perguntaremos de que maneira, na modernidade e na contemporaneidade, as materialidades e práticas luminosas do espaço urbano teriam a capacidade de influenciar, determinar, capturar, vigiar, disciplinar e controlar as opiniões, discursos e práticas dos indivíduos. Com o intuito de esboçar alguns elementos parciais de resposta a essa abrangente problemática, buscaremos demonstrar, em um primeiro momento, de que maneira a iluminação pública da Paris moderna poderia ser encarada como uma tecnologia disciplinar. Em seguida, nos perguntaremos de que modo a luz poderia, ainda na contemporaneidade, participar de diversas estratégias de poder. A partir de Paul Virilio (2002), argumentaremos que houve um deslocamento nas estratégias de controle por meio da luz em relação a épocas anteriores. Retomando uma distinção proposta pelo autor, queremos delinear dois regimes: o primeiro, oriundo da modernidade, que se caracterizaria pelo emprego de "luz direta"; ao qual se acrescentaria hoje um segundo regime de "luz indireta", próprio às sociedades de controle. Desse modo, procuraremos desnaturalizar nossa relação com a luz, no contexto da cultura ocidental, e reconhecer seu protagonismo ao serviço de foto-políticas, termo que propomos para designar algumas das instrumentalizações (bio)políticas da luz. Por fim, analisando obras e práticas luminosas insurgentes da contemporaneidade, buscaremos refletir sobre possíveis estratégias através das quais poderiam ser erguidas contraluzes. ; In this article, we seek to explain some of the relationships between light and biopolitics in modern and contemporary cities. We consider light as an external stimulation capable of not only impacting and sensitizing bodies, but also influencing them in different ways and to different degrees. Based on this premise, we ask ourselves how, in modernity and in contemporary times, the luminous materialities and practices of urban space have the capacity to influence, determine, capture, monitor, discipline and control the opinions, discourses and practices of individuals. In order to outline some partial elements of response to this wide-ranging problem, we first try to demonstrate how public lighting in modern Paris can be considered a disciplinary technology. Then, we ask how light can, even today, participate in different power strategies. Starting with Paul Virilio (2002), we argue that there has been a shift in control strategies through light in relation to previous times. Subsequently, a distinction is proposed by the author, outlining two regimes: the first, coming from modernity, is characterized by the use of "direct light"; to this, we can now add a second regime of "indirect light", characteristic of societies of control. Thereby, we attempt to denaturalize our relationship with light, in the context of western culture, and recognize its role in the service of photo-politics, a term that we propose to designate some of the (bio)political instrumentalizations of light. Finally, analyzing contemporary insurgent luminous artworks and practices, we reflect on the possible strategies through which insurgent lights could be raised.
The purpose of this article is to analyze madness in its most shameful aspect of human animality, particularly harmful and useless freedom. So, can we find in the History of Madness some topics (or some sketches) of what in the future we will designate in Foucault's thought as reflections on biopolitics? The question does not seem strange if we interpret madness as a great public experiment around the control of freedom, human restraint and the category of positive animality, resulting from the very objectification of madness as a phenomenon that links the pathological state and the animal state.
The present text, whose title is "The camp as nomos biopolitic of modernity and the figure of the Muslin", has the general objective of examining the notion of camp as biopolitical in modernity, according to the statements of Giorgio Agamben's work, highlighting the figure of the Muslim as its inhabitant and as a paradigm of the naked life (nuda vita) in opposition to the form-of-life. In order to achieve the proposed goal, we began by approaching the concepts of bare life and biopolitics in Agamben, indicating some of its interlocutors such as Michel Foucault and Hannah Arendt. Next, we analyze the concept of field, which characterizes the state of permanent exception in modernity, and the figure of the Muslim, within him. Finally, we present brief considerations about the enigmatic notion of form-of-life, with hyphen as opposed to naked life, insofar as one renders inoperative the politicization of life (zoé), biopolitics.
Based on the hypothesis that modified human beings will have successful life projects, the biopolitical presuppositions of genetic manipulation in modern society are reflected. Considering the theories presented by Michel Foucault (2005), Jürgen Habermas (2010), Michael J. Sandel (2013), Hans Jonas (2006) and Achille Mbembe (2014), a genetic Africanization of the economically disadvantaged population is identified. In this scenario, concepts of class and race are confused and social prejudice increases. Faced with the new technologies of genetic engineering, gene manipulation presents itself as a new face of biopower, since science now has the power to give life from the selection of characteristics considered superior. It is argued that the criticism surrounding the process of genetic manipulation is necessary as it opens the possibility of debating mutual recognition as a condition of life, above the identification of race or class, geographic location or other characteristics of the individuals that make up society.
Em meio às incertezas do quadro político atual e de uma crise institucional sem precedentes no Brasil, este ensaio analisa teoricamente os problemas decorrentes da elaboração, implantação e dos refluxos da PNEEPEI pela perspectiva da biopolítica. Para isso, apoiados nas análises de Foucault e Agamben, compreenderemos o modo como a governamentalidade estatal brasileira se ocupa da inclusão das pessoas com deficiência na escola, elucidando suas faces tanto biopolítica quanto tanatopolítica. À luz da crítica ao paradigma científico que congrega essas faces, no qual a PNEEPEI se apoia, propomos um paradigma estético de inclusão, com vistas a melhor atender as demandas do ethos dessas pessoas na escola. ; Amid the uncertainty of the current political context and an unprecedented institutional crisis in Brazil, this essay offers a theoretical analysis of the problems arising from the drafting, implementation and setback of PNEEPEI from a biopolitical perspective. To this end, supported by analyses by Foucault and Agamben, we will understand how Brazilian state governmentality addresses the inclusion of people with disabilities in school in terms of both biopolitics and Thanatos-politics. In light of the criticism of the scientific paradigm that brings together these two aspects underpinning PNEEPEI, we propose an aesthetic paradigm of inclusion to better meet the demands of the ethos of these people in school.
Entendemos la metropolización del espacio como un proceso socio-espacial biopolítico. A partir del análisis de los desalojos que tuvieron lugar en Morro da Providência-RJ, en el ámbito del Consorcio Operación Urbana de la Región Portuaria de Río de Janeiro y del Programa Morar Carioca, pretendemos analizar la espacialidad biopolítica en la metrópoli contemporánea. Después de relacionar el proceso de metropolización con las relaciones de poder que inscriben la biopolítica en el espacio, buscamos un diálogo entre Michel Foucault y Henri Lefebvre, en torno a los conceptos de "medio" y "espacio instrumental". Proponemos la tríada analítica de inscripción-prescripción-ordenación para examinar los proyectos e intervenciones urbanos que promueven la "extrañeza construida espacialmente" y la "deshumanización forjada espacialmente", procesos espaciales que vacían la sustancia política que constituye el ser social. ; We understand the metropolization of space as a biopolitical socio-spatial process. Based on the analysis of the evictions that took place in Morro da Providência-RJ, in the scope of the Consortium Urban Operation of the Port Region of Rio de Janeiro and the Morar Carioca Program, we aim to analyze the biopolitical spatiality in the contemporary metropolis. After relating the process of metropolization to the power relations that inscribe biopolitics in space, we sought a dialogue between Michel Foucault and Henri Lefebvre, around the concepts of "medium" and "instrumental space". We propose the inscription-prescription-ordering analytical triad to examine urban projects and interventions that promote "spatially constructed strangeness" and "spatially forged dehumanization," spatial processes that empty the political substance that constitutes the social being. ; Apreendemos a metropolização do espaço enquanto processo socioespacial biopolítico. A partir da análise das remoções ocorridas no Morro da Providência-RJ, no âmbito da Operação Urbana Consorciada da Região Portuária do Rio de Janeiro e do Programa Morar Carioca, objetivamos analisar a espacialidade biopolítica na metrópole contemporânea. Após relacionar o processo de metropolização às relações de poder que inscrevem a biopolítica no espaço, buscamos um diálogo entre Michel Foucault e Henri Lefebvre, em torno dos conceitos de "meio" e "espaço instrumental". Propomos a tríade analítica inscrição-prescrição-ordenação para examinar os projetos e intervenções urbanas que promovem o "estranhamento espacialmente construído" e a "desumanização espacialmente forjada", processos espaciais que esvaziam a substância política que constitui o ser social.