Biopolitics Today
This course offers a theoretical and applied analysis of contemporary forms of life governance through the lens of biopolitics. It examines the processes by which the human body, health, behavior, and populations become objects of knowledge, normalization, and politico-legal regulation. The curriculum follows a deliberate sequence: beginning with the mechanisms of norm production, it proceeds through corporeality, will, and power, then explores spatial forms of governance, and concludes with the technological transformation of life.
The first module investigates normality as a foundational mechanism of the biopolitical order, establishing the boundaries between the normal and the deviant, the acceptable and the pathological. It critically examines statistical, medical, and social practices of normalization. The course then shifts to corporeality, framing the body as simultaneously a biological, legal, and technological site through which control, intervention, and regulation are enacted.
The subsequent section addresses the category of will, reconceptualizing biopolitics not merely as external coercion, but as a field that mobilizes human aspirations toward self-preservation, security, and the enhancement and prolongation of life. This leads to an analysis of power, focusing on how the right to life is distributed, how inclusion and exclusion are operationalized, and how institutional and legal frameworks shape decision-making regarding life processes.
The module on territory unpacks the spatial dimension of biopolitics, demonstrating how life is governed through borders, zones, and infrastructures that structure access to resources, security, and protection. The final block examines technological transformation, exploring how life has become an object of measurement, computation, and design through digital and biomedical technologies.
The course combines close readings of foundational theoretical texts (M. Foucault, G. Agamben, A. Mbembe, N. Rose) with contemporary case studies and real-world practices. This structure guides students from conceptual analysis toward a critical understanding of current forms of life governance within legal and political contexts.