Title

'Because I Could Not Stop For Death': The Biopolitics of Mortality in America

Document Type

Article

Comments

Advised by Professor A. Kiarina Kordela

Abstract

Death is hidden in contemporary America. From the isolation of the hospital bed to the specialization of the mortuary, the dynamics of dying are largely excluded from the public sphere. Recent biopolitical theory redefines the natural appearance of bodily processes as secretly engendering social control. As such, biopolitics offers a critical framework for understanding the disappearance of death from collective life. Through an examination of political spectacle, history, and works of mass culture, this thesis explores the biopolitical place of death in producing modern manifestations of sovereignty and sustaining the American status quo.

 
 

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