Research Catalog

The microbial state : global thriving and the body politic

Title
The microbial state : global thriving and the body politic / Stefanie R. Fishel.
Author
Fishel, Stefanie R., 1972-
Publication
  • Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2017]
  • ©2017

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library JFE 17-3349Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
xii, 144 pages : illustrations; 23 cm
Summary
"For three centuries, concepts of the state have been animated by one of the most powerful metaphors in politics: the body politic, a claustrophobic and bounded image of sovereignty. Climate change, neoliberalism, mass migration, and other aspects of the late Anthropocene have increasingly revealed the limitations of this metaphor. Just as the human body is not whole and separate from other bodies--comprising microbes, bacteria, water, and radioactive isotopes--Stefanie R. Fishel argues that the body politic of the state exists in dense entanglement with other communities and forms of life. Drawing on insights from continental philosophy, science and technology studies, and international relations theory, this path-breaking book critiques the concept of the body politic on the grounds of its very materiality. Fishel both redefines and extends the metaphor of the body politic and its role in understanding an increasingly posthuman, globalized world politics. By conceiving of bodies and states as lively vessels, living harmoniously with multiplicity and the biosphere, she argues that a radical shift in metaphors can challenge a politics based on fear to open new forms of global political practice and community. Reframing the concept of the body politic to accommodate greater levels of complexity, Fishel suggests, will result in new configurations for the political and social organization necessary to build a world in which the planet's inhabitants do not merely live but actively thrive"--
Subject
  • State, The > Philosophy
  • International organization
  • Political sociology
  • POLITICAL SCIENCE / International Relations / General
  • PHILOSOPHY / Political
  • SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Biology / Microbiology
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 119-139) and index.
Contents
Introduction : involutionary politics -- Corporeal politics -- Lively subjects, bodies politic -- States in nature, nature in states -- Posthuman politics -- Coda : new metaphors for global living.
Call Number
JFE 17-3349
ISBN
  • 9781517900120
  • 1517900123
  • 9781517900137
  • 1517900131
LCCN
2017001235
OCLC
982091734
Author
Fishel, Stefanie R., 1972- author.
Title
The microbial state : global thriving and the body politic / Stefanie R. Fishel.
Publisher
Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2017]
Copyright Date
©2017
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 119-139) and index.
Research Call Number
JFE 17-3349
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