“Life is a window of vulnerability”: viruses, monstrosities and biopolitics based on readings by Donna Haraway and Michel Foucault

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36517/arf.v17i1.95837

Keywords:

Biopolitcs. Cyborg. Monstrosity. Donna Haraway. Michel Foucault.

Abstract

The objective of this article is, based on the reading offered by Donna Haraway, to present and discuss some of her proposals on Biopolitics. The North American biologist and philosopher will talk about an artefactual Biopolitics and point out that several medical notions, such as “contagion”, and an entire lexicon of immunology are marked by a colonizing discourse in which a foreigner wants to invade, occupy and destroy a territory hitherto clean and pure. This invaded body becomes monstrous. The author then begins a dialogue with science fiction produced by black North American authors to offer a reflection on the monstrosity. Although it does not intend to exhaust the topic, the article intends to show similarities and distances with the notions of Biopolitics formulated by Michel Foucault.

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Author Biography

Luis Celestino de França Junior, Universidade Federal do Cariri (UFCA)

Professor Associado na Universidade Federal do Cariri (UFCA). Doutor em Comunicação pela Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE).

References

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FOUCAULT, M. A Verdade e as Formas Jurídicas. Rio de Janeiro: Nau Editora, 2003.

FOUCAULT, M. Diálogo sobre o Poder. In: WADE, S. Foucault na California. São Paulo: Elefante, 2024.

FOUCAULT, M. O Nascimento da Medicina Social. In: Microfísica do Poder. Rio de Janeiro, Graal, 2009.

GUIBERT, H. Citamegalovirus. Paris: Gallimard, 2023.

HARAWAY, D. A Reinvenção da Natureza: Símios, Ciborgues e Mulheres. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2023.

HARAWAY, D. Le promesse dei mostri. Una politica rigeneratrice per l’autorità innapropriata. Roma: Deriva Approdi, 2019.

LEMM, V. Ideologías de Contagio y comunidades de vida. Revista Latino-americana de estúdios críticos animales. v. 11, n. 1, p. 191-207, 2024.

PRECIADO, P. Dysphoria Mundi. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar, 2023.

Published

2025-07-31 — Updated on 2025-10-03

How to Cite

França Junior, L. C. de. (2025). “Life is a window of vulnerability”: viruses, monstrosities and biopolitics based on readings by Donna Haraway and Michel Foucault. Argumentos - Revista De Filosofia, 17(1), 32–49. https://doi.org/10.36517/arf.v17i1.95837

Issue

Section

Dossiê Foucault: vidas infames e insubmissas

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