Transcript The Biopolitics of Postmodern Bodies: Constitutions of

The Biopolitics of
Postmodern Bodies:
Constitutions of Self in
Immune System Discourse
By
Donna J. Haraway
From Simians, Cyborgs and Women
Presentation by Susan Russell
Aims of the Class
To unveil the economic, political, and social power
systems represented in the immune system,
To articulate how these constructs have developed in
society, especially in our ongoing class discussion of the
cyborg,
To articulate the constructed boundaries between self
and Other that science has mapped within the realm of
normal and pathological using the immume system as its
marker,
And To discuss how this mapping has affected the
overarching representation of the individualized human
being.
Key Terms and Concepts
Sign
Signifier/Signified
Language
Power
Not-self
Postmodern
Cyborg
Difference
Generated Systems
The Immune System
The Network Theory
T cells
B cells
Mononuclear phagocyte
system
Human Genome project
Immunological Symphony
Pathology
Bibliography
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Icon Books, 1999.
Foucault, Michel. “Truth and Power.” Foucault Reader. Ed. Paul
Rabinow New York: Pantheon, 1984.
Frakes, Jonathan, dir. First Contact. Patrick Stewart, Jonathan
Frakes, Brent Spiner (Paramount 1996).
Haraway, Donna. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women. New York:
Routeledge,1991.
Nichols, Mike, dir. Angels in America. Al Pacino, Mary Louis Parker,
Justin Kirk (HBO, 2003).
Spielberg, Steven, dir. AI. William Hurt, Haley Joel Osment
(Dreamworks, 2001).
Wachowski, Andy, and Wachowski, Larry, dirs. Matrix Reloaded.
Keanu Reeves, Carrie Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne (Warner
Brothers 2003).