Body/Politics

Negotiating the terrain between techno-optimism and eco-pessimism, this work establishes the political connections between technologies of the body, property, and the environment. Specific technologies of the body, such as surrogacy and in vitro fertilization, are examined in relation to their political and legal constructions. Next, Shevory analyzes private property as an evolving historical concept that implicates environmental and biological transformations with particular attention given to biotechnology cases. He then considers the body's appearance and its alterations through plastic surgery, dieting, or piercing as political constructions.A theoretical overview specifies technoprogressivist (liberal) and technophobic traditions, especially as they have evolved in the United States during the second half of the 20th-century. Drawing upon critical and feminist theories, Shevory specifies a body politics that negotiates the terrain between these two traditions. Body technologies and markets, he argues, interact to consolidate and reinforce dominant systems of power, while at the same time resisting and sometimes subverting them. Technology is often a factor in the fragmentation of evolving political ideological discourses on the left and right; however, the resulting instabilities create the potential for both the expansion of global capital and its subversion via democratic interventions.

.,."it is an interesting read that will be of particular use and interest to cultural studies readers who could benefit...from the overtly political analysis and legal focus it provides."-The Law and Politics Book Review, "Body/Politics is a well-researched book that brings together a significant range of topics to explicate the connections between changes ocurrring with the biological body and within body politics....[A]n intriguing book that should be of potential interest to readers in political theory, public policy, and American politics. The analysis is sound and in places highly detailed. Whether the reader agrees or disagrees with Shevory's specific conclusions the discussion represents a competent anaylysis of an area that strikes at the heart of what we are, both as individuals and as members of society. As such, this book is a valuable contribution to a debate that might now be simmering but that in the near future is likely to reach the boiling point."-Political Theory, ?...it is an interesting read that will be of particular use and interest to cultural studies readers who could benefit...from the overtly political analysis and legal focus it provides.?-The Law and Politics Book Review, ?Body/Politics is a well-researched book that brings together a significant range of topics to explicate the connections between changes ocurrring with the biological body and within body politics....[A]n intriguing book that should be of potential interest to readers in political theory, public policy, and American politics. The analysis is sound and in places highly detailed. Whether the reader agrees or disagrees with Shevory's specific conclusions the discussion represents a competent anaylysis of an area that strikes at the heart of what we are, both as individuals and as members of society. As such, this book is a valuable contribution to a debate that might now be simmering but that in the near future is likely to reach the boiling point.?-Political Theory, ..."it is an interesting read that will be of particular use and interest to cultural studies readers who could benefit...from the overtly political analysis and legal focus it provides."-The Law and Politics Book Review

THOMAS C. SHEVORY is Associate Professor of Politics at Ithaca College./e He teaches courses in law, public policy, and the politics of popular culture. He has published on legal history, biotechnology, reproductive rights, and the politics of popular music.