<p>My dissertation explores the counter-histories of trans-Atlantic modernity that surface in contemporary apocalyptic visuality. Framing twenty-first-century apocalypse films and televisual narratives as “new world” fantasies, I argue that British and American visions of The End re-stage the exploitative “contracts” that underwrite capitalist modernity. While contemporary visions of apocalypse predominantly valorize a survivalist ethos premised on claiming territory, annihilating threatening others, and securing reproductive labour, they can also be read for the ethical, affective, and political alternatives that they inadvertently expose. With this in mind, I bring together the fields of transatlantic studies and biopolitical theory in order to accomplish two complementary objectives. The first aim is to critique the gendered, racial, and generational politics of survivalist fantasies, which I read as conducting a neoliberal pedagogy that reanimates histories of racial terror and sexual exploitation. The second is to develop a biopolitical analysis premised on Hannah Arendt’s principle of natality in order to foreground the reproductive and youthful bodies that have been too long marginalized in theories of biopower. Though they are typically relegated to the background of apocalyptic visual culture, women and children figure the unrealized possibilities that haunt survivalist fantasies—possibilities that, I argue, are embedded in the ruined landscapes that they negotiate. Apocalyptic visions of crumbling metropolises, wasted landscapes, and abandoned border sites invite genealogical excavations of the lingering counter-histories embedded in their ruins. Such critical excavations reveal the “now” as a space-time of contestation in which suppressed pasts open onto a multiplicity of possible futures.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This dissertation examines the link between sovereignty, law, community and (il)legal violence in 20th/21st century Mexican narratives associated with drug trafficking themes. The field of biopolitics provides ample pathways to explore the intersection of these concepts as they are portrayed in contemporary Mexican literature, music and film. Combining the theories of Michel Foucault, Roberto Esposito, Giorgio Agamben and Carl Schmitt, among others, this project analyzes the law and the sovereign, as well as the community and the narco within the spaces they inhabit as they enter in (violent) dialogue with each other. Furthermore, such relationship is viewed panoramically in three stages. First, I analyze the rise of a mythologized narco-sovereign and the creation of what could be conceptualized as Narcobiopolitcs, which materializes the moment the drug trafficker emerges into the Mexican collective imaginary and fights for a space for its own “community.” Second, narco-communities are allowed to thrive in the outskirts, cementing the figure of the narco-sovereign, a figure that challenges the power of the law. Lastly, the relationship between the law and the trafficker disintegrates due to an excess of violence and the communities they inhabit collapse, thus pointing to the fall of the (narco) community. The authors examined to explore these three phases are: Pablo Serrano, Yuri Herrera, Juan Pablo Villalobos, Gerardo Cornejo, Raúl Manríquez, Víctor Hugo Rascón Banda and Orfa Alarcón (literature); Gerardo Naranjo (film); Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Jenni Rivera, El Komander, Gerardo Ortiz and Los Tigres del Norte (music). The prologue provides a socio-historical context explaining the rise of drug trafficking violence in 20th century Mexico, as well as the current debate on narconarratives. It argues that such debate has yielded stagnating responses from academics and critics and specifies this project’s need to steer away from it. Chapter one offers the theoretical framework that will be utilized along the subsequent chapters in order to create a new space for dialogue surrounding these narratives. Chapter two analyses the rise of the mythologized figure of the narco-sovereign. The purpose of this entity is to create its own narco-community at the margins of the law, even though such community will always be under the Sovereign’s gaze. Chapter three showcases well-developed narco-communities who have managed to claim, through their narco-sovereigns, a space in their fight against the government institutions. Chapter four pinpoints the moment the relationship between legal and illegal violence collapses. This moment is portrayed in the narratives as the destruction of the community, with both entities (government and drug traffickers) responsible for such catastrophic downfall. Finally, the epilogue will conclude this dissertation by summarizing the main theoretical and analytical discussions, thus offering an opening to academic dialogue about narconarratives without the aim of sealing off the topic. Additionally, the epilogue will disclose research routes to undertake in the near future. / Spanish

This dissertation offers an analysis of two American religions–the Church of Christ, Scientist (CS), and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS)–and the ways that their particular/peculiar ideologies regarding the body govern the everyday realities of their respective memberships. Biopower is the political power used to control bodies and bodily actions, such as the care of oneself, and the details of personal family life. Belief can act as an especially powerful agent of biopolitical power as it inspires a lived faithfulness through its various theologies. What is more, the effects of biopolitical belief are often complicated by the mixed interests of Church and State, leaving the territory of the individual body a disputed claim. To better understand these disputes, this project utilizes a Foucaultian interpretation of the CS and LDS churches to better understand the roots of the biopolitical conflicts they confront. Specifically, the histories and contemporary practices of these religious organizations are analyzed through a genealogical method, using Foucaultian interpretations of the biopolitical, pastoral, and psychiatric powers they use to effectively govern the minds, bodies, and spirits of their people. A historical background of the CS and LDS churches traces the emergence of the biopolitical practices of each group by evaluating their groundedness in their current social-political milieus, and by making connections between their respective religious beliefs, practices, and government and the broader Jacksonian American political culture into which they were born. Additionally, this particular form of analysis poses important questions for the study of religion and politics today. Although most of the examples used in this study are historical, both the LDS and CS churches continue to hold on to many if not all of the theologies and doctrines which historically brought them into conflict with the US government. What has changed is not the belief itself, but the embodiment of it, and also the state and federal government reaction to it. Therefore, the theological histories and founding stories of these religions remain relevant to their contemporary status as extra-statal biopolitical forces within the US today. / Ph. D.

This thesis uses the recent Bayer-Monsanto acquisition in order to examine historical and contemporary power dynamics found throughout industrial agriculture. With the theoretical aid of Karl Polanyi and Michel Foucault, I examine how the Bayer-Monsanto acquisition is a viable site in order to reflect the interconnectedness of political and economic forces that organize societies and markets across the globe. I briefly introduce the merger-turned-acquisition between these two former 'Big 6' firms that dominated international agricultural input markets. Questions are asked such as how has the history of agriculture led to its current organization, how have these particular firms garnered such market power, and what power structures or historical economic incentives have contributed to the acquisition's manifestation? In order to address these questions I engage in an economic-historical analysis of industrial agriculture, particularly focusing on the role of the U.S. state in drafting agrarian legislation, spreading knowledge regarding production processes, and promoting particular food products to be patented, grown, and consumed across the world. Through an examination of the acquisition itself, potential economic, environmental, and political implications are presented to analyze whether historically visible strategies have appeared to evolve to become invisible overtime. Although the result of this acquisition does involve few firms governing almost entire markets, I contend that there is more at stake than simply few firms monopolizing agriculture. The Bayer-Monsanto acquisition has economic, environmental, and political implications on a host of actors, and it forces us to question the legitimacy of democratic governmental institutions across the world and where power is situated within them. / Master of Arts / Mergers and acquisitions are by no means an emerging trend throughout agricultural markets; however, Bayer’s $66 billion acquisition of Monsanto is a recent development that has garnered attention from politicians, farmers, environmentalists, and public consumers alike. In this thesis I examine how the Bayer-Monsanto acquisition is a viable site in order to show how political and market logics are constantly entangled with one another. I first briefly introduce the mergerturned-acquisition between these two former ‘Big 6’ firms that dominated international agricultural input markets. I then ask how has the history of agriculture led to its current organization, how have these particular firms garnered such market power, and what power structures or historical economic incentives have contributed to the acquisition’s manifestation? After contextualizing the acquisition within a history of legislating land policy, spreading knowledge regarding production processes, and promoting the consumption of particular food products across the world, I present various economic, environmental, and political implications of the acquisition. Although the result of this acquisition does involve few firms with centralized market share, I contend that there is more at stake than simply monopolistic practices. An analysis of the Bayer-Monsanto acquisition reflects why we should question the quality and legitimacy of political institutions across the world, and ask where power lies within them.

This dissertation is a contribution to the ethnography of contemporary indigenous reindeer pastoralism in Norway: specifically, to the study of the neglected fields of reindeer killing and slaughtering practice. Its central contention is that in recent decades, the proliferation of human powers vested in the conduct of reindeer slaughter has created new conditions for practice, placing the identities of reindeer and herders at stake in new and still only dimly conceptualized ways. By exploring these, the dissertation aims to broaden existing debates concerning the so-called modernization of pastoral practice in Norway, drawing attention to some of its neglected aspects and inscribing them in a new register. Two principal strands inform the theoretical framework: one, approaches to the social study of knowledge that emphasise its practical, non-verbal and material aspects; and two, Foucauldian concepts of biopower as these may – or may not – be applicable to the human management of animal life.Individual chapters examine, in turn: the local politics of space on the Varanger peninsula, focusing particularly on links between the spatial management and the killing of reindeer; the practices and social relations of slaughter as it is conducted at the round-up corral; the social effects of the introduction of slaughterhouses, and of the regime of which they form a part; controversies surrounding specific slaughtering techniques and instruments, particularly the curved knife; and the politics of animal welfare discourse and practices in their application to reindeer herding. Finally, using the figure of animal sacrifice as a guiding trope, the concluding chapter attempts to situate some key aspects of the modernization of reindeer slaughter in relation to the operation of broader sacrificial economies that regulate the destruction of life at aggregate or populational levels. / Research Council of Norway

Opioid use in pregnancy is the latest in a long list of social issues in the United States that is being addressed with punitive policies that disproportionately affect women of color and their families and do not focus on environmental factors contributing to increasing drug use in pregnancy. Evidence is emerging demonstrating that these punitive policies are not achieving their intended goals. Additionally, these policies continue a trend of pitting maternal and fetal interests against each other. Historically, bioethics has divided conversations on biomedical and environmental ethics. However, recent merging of these fields may facilitate the biopolitical translation of emerging epigenetics research of substance use in pregnancy. This paper reviews the ineffectiveness of punitive policies in reducing drug use in pregnancy and related negative health outcomes for both mothers and infants. It demonstrates how these policies perpetuate racial injustice through existing systemic oppressive structures. Leveraging epigenetics to draw a link between the environment and the maternal-fetal dyad can help members of the scientific community advocate for policies that promote equitable and justice-based public health interventions as well as relieve the maternal fetal conflict. / Urban Bioethics

Based on extended research on Chinese medical and epidemiological archival material dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, and on six months of internship in epidemiology in Beijing’s Medical School and in Haidian District’s Centre of Disease Control and Prevention, this thesis explores the conjunction of three major epidemiological crises in modern Chinese history with processes of State formation: the 1911 Manchurian pneumonic plague, the 1952 germ-warfare, and the 2003 SARS outbreak. Analysing the three crises as Events in line with Alain Badiou’s epistemology it seeks to establish how different strategies of governmental fidelity to the imagined cause of each crisis have led to distinct modes of organisation and valorisation of the social: Republican China and its decline to fascism; the clash between professional revolutionaries and technocrats in Maoist China; and the emergence of the “Harmonious Society” of mass exploitation and repression today. This conjunction between State formation and epidemiological Events is explored with the use of Foucault’s genealogical method in a quest for a historical materialist approach that posits at its epicentre processes of class composition, decomposition and recomposition, and their contested enclosure by the governmental apparati of capture. The present thesis thus examines the three major epidemiological crises of modern China as forming grounds for biopolitical strategies that give rise to modes of subjectivation and circuits of debt/guilt within the context of the class struggle. And at the same time, it aims to create a new field of investigation for anthropology: the relation of State and Event, from a viewpoint that contests the accepted relation of event and structure expounded by Marshall Sahlins, proposing as the main object of this investigation the conjunction between necessity and will that can never be reduced either to the naturalism of historical determinism, nor to the culturalism of subjective contingency.

Michel Foucault est reconnu principalement pour sa contribution au problème du pouvoir. Ses recherches en philosophie politique, à l’inverse, ont bénéficié d’une attention mineure. Ce mémoire vise à rendre compte du caractère spécifique du pouvoir politique moderne à partir de sa première grande technologie : la biopolitique. Après avoir retracé l’émergence du biopouvoir présentée dans La volonté de savoir, nous défendrons l’idée selon laquelle le pouvoir sur la vie, en devenant un enjeu politique de première importance, constitue l’un des fondements du libéralisme classique. Parce que la biopolitique est inhérente à l’essor du capitalisme, nous la distinguerons ensuite positivement du pouvoir économique théorisé par Marx dans les Manusrits de 1844 et le Capital. Notre objectif est de montrer que le libéralisme n’est pas réductible au marché et que la biopolitique, au contraire, autorise des changements positifs sur l’ensemble d’une population. Finalement, nous montrerons que le libéralisme apparaît comme une théorie du gouvernement qui devance, en plus de la lecture économiste de Marx, l’interprétation morale qui lui est traditionnellement associée. / Michel Foucault is mostly known for his contribution to the problem of power. His research in political philosophy, on the other hand, has received little attention. This master’s thesis aims to give an account of the modern political power starting with its first great technological form: biopolitics. Giving the initial account of biopower presented in La volonté de savoir, I defend the idea that the power over life, on the rise as a very important political question, must also be seen as a foundation of classical liberalism. Even if biopolitics is constitutive of the birth of capitalism, we will show that it nonetheless differs from the economic power as theorised by Marx in the 1844 Manuscripts and Capital. Our goal is to show that liberalism cannot be reduced to economics and that biopolitics allows for positive transformation. Finally, we will show that liberalism appears as a theory of government that exceeds, on Marx’s economist reading, the moral interpretation that it is traditionally associated with.

A necessidade de renovação das práticas de saúde, pautadas por um cuidado sensível às necessidades das pessoas e ao fortalecimento da existência humana tem sido uma preocupação constante entre alguns que se dedicam às questões da produção da saúde. A influência do marco da modernidade, do biopoder e dos interesses neoliberais nas sociedades contemporâneas compõem o pano de fundo do modo hegemônico de produzir saúde e, muitas vezes, dissociado deste cuidado. A promoção da saúde constitui um campo de produção de práticas de saúde fortemente atravessado por estas questões que impactam no seu modo de produzir o cuidado. Este trabalho busca fazer uma análise crítica sobre as práticas desenvolvidas do âmbito da promoção da saúde interrogando-as a partir da discussão da biopolítica e da produção do cuidado apoiada pelo referencial da micropolítica e de pensadores como M. Foucault, G. Deleuze, F. Guattari, S. Rolnik, E. Merhy, L. Feuerwerker, entre outros. Para tanto tomou emprestado o modelo das pesquisas do Observatório de Políticas Públicas em Saúde e em Educação em Saúde que se utiliza de uma análise microvetorial para pensar a produção do cuidado e as políticas públicas. A escrita deste trabalho foi construída de forma a seguir um caminho análogo ao que se faz em uma viagem, onde o viajante vai fazendo paradas em estações onde encontra pessoas, lugares e territórios importantes para serem visitados, explorados e discutidos. Seu objetivo foi analisar a produção do cuidado nas práticas da promoção da saúde no âmbito do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) à luz da Política Nacional de Promoção da Saúde (PNPS), procurando compreender o que esta tem disparado como dispositivo no âmbito municipal e o lugar ocupado pelo cuidado em seu texto e no olhar e vivências de usuários, trabalhadores e gestores envolvidos com as práticas da promoção da saúde de um município do Estado de São Paulo. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa de abordagem cartográfica onde foram realizadas entrevistas semi-estruturadas e abertas com trabalhadores, usuários e gestores do nível estadual e municipal, vivenciada a observação participante nas atividades com diferentes grupos, participação em reuniões de equipe em espaços de educação permanente, análise de documentos oficiais e construção de diário de campo. Observou-se que a PNPS como dispositivo acaba induzindo uma certa regularidade na produção das práticas desenvolvidas pelos municípios muitas vezes atravessadas por elementos biopolíticos de disciplina e controle. No entanto uma política é também o que se produz no cotidiano e neste município, apesar dos atravessamentos biopolíticos, tem servido também como janela de oportunidade para outras produções que contribuem para a produção do cuidado, sendo isto mais reconhecido por alguns trabalhadores, usuários e gestores do que por outros. As práticas de promoção desenvolvidas fazem convites diferentes para os usuários, ora pautados na prescrição e disciplinarização, ora no reconhecimento de suas singularidades, limitações e projetos de vida, ativando lugares de produção para o cuidado totalmente diferentes e que muitas vezes causam tensionamentos entre os profissionais por requisitarem estratégias de cuidado diferentes ao usual, como a estratégia de redução de danos no caso do programa do tabagismo. Apesar de algumas práticas desenvolvidas propiciarem o encontro, a construção de vínculo, ampliarem as conexões e serem regidas pelas tecnologias relacionais, na AB estas práticas não ganham importância na agenda e as que são desenvolvidas são mais prescritivas. Conclui-se que no município analisado, o lugar da promoção da saúde tem oportunizado, a partir de algumas práticas desenvolvidas, acessar outros planos de produção que se apoiam no uso das tecnologias relacionais e que contribuem para um cuidado centrado nas singularidades dos usuários. No entanto faz-se necessário dar mais visibilidades a elas como forma de interrogar a produção de práticas mais prescritivas e o cuidado produzido sem centralidade no usuário muitas vezes produzido na Rede. A PNPS neste município funcionou como um dispositivo de legitimidade e fortalecimento das práticas desenvolvidas, mas não foi a responsável pela indução das mesmas. / The need of renewal in health care practices oriented toward a care that is sensitive to people´s needs and to the strengthening of human existence has been a constant concern among some of those who devote their work to the issues of production of health. The influence of the landmark of modernity, of biopower and of neoliberal interests in contemporary societies compose the background of the hegemonious manner of health production, which is frequently dissociated from the above mentioned form of care. The promotion of health constitutes a field of production of healthcare practices strongly influenced by the issues that arise from such background and that have an impact on the production of care. This work aims to make a critical analysis of the practices developed in the health promotion context through the discussion of biopolitics and of the production of care supported by the theoretical reference of micropolitics and of authors such as M. Foucault, G. Deleuze, F. Guattari, S. Rolnik, E. Merhy, L. Feuerwerker, among others. To that end, the research model of the Observatory of Public Policies in Health, which applies a micro vectorial analysis to the study of the production of care and public policies, was borrowed.The text structure of this dissertation was built to mimic a travel in which the traveler makes stops at stations, meets people, and visits, explores and discusses relevant places and territories. The objective was to analyze the production of care in the practices of health promotion in the context of Brazil´s Universal Health Care System (SUS) in light of the National Policy for Health Promotion (PNPS), aiming to better understand what the PNPS has been triggering in the municipal context and the place the notion of care holds in the structure of the text of the PNPS and in the eyes and experiences of the users, workers and managers involved with the health care promotion practices in a city in the state of São Paulo. It is a qualitative research with a cartographic approach in which data was collected via: a) semi-structured and open interviews with workers, users and managers at state and municipal levels; b) participative observation in activities within different groups; c) participation in staff meetings in permanent education spaces; d) analysis of official documents and the construction of a field journal/log. It was observed that the PNPS induces certain regularity in the production of the practices developed by the cities, often affected by biopolitical elements of discipline and control. However, a policy is also what is produced on a daily basis and in this city, in spite of the biopolitical influence, it has served as a window of opportunity for other productions that contribute to the production of care, although some workers, users and managers acknowledge and are aware of this fact more than others. The developed promotion practices make different invitations to the users, at times based on prescription and discipline, at times in the acknowledgement and recognition of their singularities, limitations and life projects, activating totally different locus for the production of care, which in many cases causes tensions among the professional because these practices demand different than usual strategies of care, such as the reduction of damage strategy for the smoking program. Even though some of the practices enable encounters and bonding, increasing connections that will be managed by the relational technologies, in primary care units these practices are not given importance in the agenda and the ones that are developed are more prescriptive. In conclusion, in the analyzed city the locus of health promotion, through some of the developed practices, presents opportunities to access other plans of production based on relational technologies and that contribute to a care centered in the singularities of the users. Nonetheless, it is necessary that more visibility be given to them as a way to question the production of the more prescriptive practices and of the not-centered in the user care frequently produced in this context. In this city, the PNPS worked to legitimize and strengthen the developed practices, but it was not responsible for their induction.

Esta pesquisa vai às obras filosóficas de Michael Hardt e Antonio Negri a fim de investigar possibilidades de organização de lutas contra o presente estado de coisas, ou seja, de lutas revolucionárias. Hardt e Negri desenvolvem o tema a partir de uma apreensão do leninismo, entendido não como fórmula de organização de um partido de vanguarda, mas como adequa-ção da composição política dos trabalhadores (forma da organização) à sua composição técni-ca (forma hegemônica da produção). Nesta chave, acompanhamos a investigação que fazem das novas formas de produção, chamadas por alguns de pós-fordistas e, por eles, recorrendo à terminologia foucaultiana, de produção biopolítica, que consiste num trabalho socializado que produz o que chamam de comum. Esse novo paradigma da produção tem por sujeito e objeto a vida, cuja principal força é o desejo. Posto isso, a questão que eles nos oferecem e que tomamos como central para nossa pesquisa é: como organizar o desejo? Seguimos sua trilha em busca dessa renovação do leninismo, a fim de compreender o que entendem por de-sejo tal que possa ser organizado, e o resultado disso, que vem a ser o conceito de multidão. A multidão, como desejo organizado, luta contra o presente estado de coisas, isto é, dentro de e contra um mercado mundial totalizante que Hardt e Negri chamam de império. / This dissertation goes to Michael Hardts and Antonio Negris philosophical works in search of possibilities for the organization of struggles against the present state of things, or for the organization of revolutionary struggles. Hardt and Negri develop this subject from a unique approach of Leninism, understood not as some party of vanguard formula but as an adequacy between workers technical and political compositions (or between the way people work and the way they struggle). In this sense, we follow the inquiry Hardt and Negri make on the new forms of production, post-fordist produc-tion to some and biopolitical production to them, resorting to Foucaults terminology. Such production consists on a socialized work that produces that which they call the common. This new paradigm of production takes life itself both as its subject and ob-ject, and its main strength is desire. From this point, the questioning they offer us and that we take as central in this research is: how to organize desire? We follow their tracks on this renewal of Leninism, trying to understand what desire is in order to be organized, and its outcome, i.e., the concept of multitude. Multitude, as organized de-sire, struggles against the present state of things, inside and against a totalizing world market that Hardt and Negri call empire.