Arendt, Natality and Biopolitics

Abstract

Winner of the 14th Annual Symposium Book Award Reconsiders Arendt’s philosophy of natality in terms of biopolitical theory and feminism to defend women's reproductive choices and democratic pluralism Rosalyn Diprose and Ewa Ziarek provide a reconfiguration of Hannah Arendt’s philosophy of natality from the perspective of biopolitical and feminist theory. They show that Arendt provides new ways of contesting biopolitical threats to human plurality and the way biopolitics, along with sexism, racism and political theology target women’s reproductive agency. They also extend Arendt’s account of collective political action to include consideration of political hospitality, responsibility and story-telling as ways of countering the harms of biopower. The book offers an insightful account of the political ontology of Hannah Arendt and forms new dialogues between her and major 20th- and 21st-century thinkers including Foucault, Agamben, Nancy, Kristeva, Esposito, Derrida, Levinas and Cavarero. Key Features The first book length study of Arendt’s philosophy of natality that engages both biopolitical and feminist theories Teases out the implications of Arendt’s work for the diagnosis and contestation of the biopolitics of reproduction, including its racist elements Examines how Arendt’s philosophy of natality changes the meaning of political concepts including agency, freedom, power, community, democratic plurality, responsibility and political hospitality Engages with contemporary political issues, such as struggles for reproductive justice, to demonstrate biopolitics' continuing threat to democratic pluralism Mobilises Arendt as a biopolitical theorist between Foucault and Agamben to take Foucauldian biopolitical analysis beyond its usual focus on medical sociology "