Politics in the Scientific Classification of Human Bodies A Presentation by: Katheryn Wright
Aims Understand how Foucault’s notion of “political anatomy” serves as a framework for Schiebinger’s analysis Discuss specific ways humankind was to be divided Articulate the difference between environmentalism and biological determinism, making sure to understand basic assumptions about nature
Aims (2) Realize the conflict between scientific sexism and scientific racism, both of which serve as reaction to the Revolution’s claim for ‘natural’ rights Articulate the difference between “the doctrine of the great chain of being” and “the doctrine of sexual complementarity” Understand the “body politic,” or how the body is infused with power Discuss how the practitioners of science affect science’s outcome
“Political Anatomy” What does this mean?
Works Cited Foucault, Michel. “Docile Bodies.” In Foucault Reader. Ed. Paul Rabinow (New York: Pantheon Books, 1984). 179-187. Hooks, bell. “The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators.” Feminism and Tradition in Aesthetics. Eds. Peggy Zeglin Brand and Carolyn Korsmeyer (State College, Pennsylvania: Penn State University Press, 1995). 142-159 Kubrick, Stanley, dir. Clockwork Orange. Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Adrienne Corri (Warner Bros., 1971). Picart, Caroline. The Darwinian Shift: Kuhn vs. Laudan (Acton Massachusetts: Copley, 1997). Schiebinger, Londa. Nature’s Body: Gender in the Making of Modern Science (Boston: Beacon Press, 1993). 115-212.