The Biopolitics of Feeling

Race, Sex, and Science in the Nineteenth Century

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Gender Studies, Feminism & Feminist Theory, Women&, History
Cover of the book The Biopolitics of Feeling by Kyla Schuller, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Kyla Schuller ISBN: 9780822372356
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: January 5, 2018
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Kyla Schuller
ISBN: 9780822372356
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: January 5, 2018
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

In The Biopolitics of Feeling Kyla Schuller unearths the forgotten, multiethnic sciences of impressibility—the capacity to be transformed by one's environment and experiences—to uncover how biopower developed in the United States. Schuller challenges prevalent interpretations of biopower and literary cultures to reveal how biopower emerged within the discourses and practices of sentimentalism. Through analyses of evolutionary theories, gynecological sciences, abolitionist poetry and other literary texts, feminist tracts, child welfare reforms, and black uplift movements, Schuller excavates a vast apparatus that regulated the capacity of sensory and emotional feeling in an attempt to shape the evolution of the national population. Her historical and theoretical work exposes the overlooked role of sex difference in population management and the optimization of life, illuminating how models of binary sex function as one of the key mechanisms of racializing power. Schuller thereby overturns long-accepted frameworks of the nature of race and sex difference, offers key corrective insights to modern debates surrounding the equation of racism with determinism and the liberatory potential of ideas about the plasticity of the body, and reframes contemporary notions of sentiment, affect, sexuality, evolution, and heredity.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In The Biopolitics of Feeling Kyla Schuller unearths the forgotten, multiethnic sciences of impressibility—the capacity to be transformed by one's environment and experiences—to uncover how biopower developed in the United States. Schuller challenges prevalent interpretations of biopower and literary cultures to reveal how biopower emerged within the discourses and practices of sentimentalism. Through analyses of evolutionary theories, gynecological sciences, abolitionist poetry and other literary texts, feminist tracts, child welfare reforms, and black uplift movements, Schuller excavates a vast apparatus that regulated the capacity of sensory and emotional feeling in an attempt to shape the evolution of the national population. Her historical and theoretical work exposes the overlooked role of sex difference in population management and the optimization of life, illuminating how models of binary sex function as one of the key mechanisms of racializing power. Schuller thereby overturns long-accepted frameworks of the nature of race and sex difference, offers key corrective insights to modern debates surrounding the equation of racism with determinism and the liberatory potential of ideas about the plasticity of the body, and reframes contemporary notions of sentiment, affect, sexuality, evolution, and heredity.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book Lines of Flight by Kyla Schuller
Cover of the book Poe's Pym by Kyla Schuller
Cover of the book Presidential Selection by Kyla Schuller
Cover of the book Contested Histories in Public Space by Kyla Schuller
Cover of the book Imperial Debris by Kyla Schuller
Cover of the book Becoming Imperial Citizens by Kyla Schuller
Cover of the book Rebels by Kyla Schuller
Cover of the book Terminated for Reasons of Taste by Kyla Schuller
Cover of the book Sessue Hayakawa by Kyla Schuller
Cover of the book Four Decades On by Kyla Schuller
Cover of the book Translocalities/Translocalidades by Kyla Schuller
Cover of the book Workshop of Revolution by Kyla Schuller
Cover of the book Mr. Justice Black and His Critics by Kyla Schuller
Cover of the book Collecting, Ordering, Governing by Kyla Schuller
Cover of the book Black Power TV by Kyla Schuller
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy