The Biopolitics of Postmodern Bodies: Constitutions of Self in Immune System Discourse

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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

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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.

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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

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Bibliography

• Cobley, Paul, and Jansz, Litza. Introducing
  Semiotics. Cambridge, 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).