Of Animacy Reading Group: Flesh

Of Animacy Reading Group convenes to discuss Alexander G. Weheliye’s take on the notion of bare life and the distinction between body and flesh.

Approaching the notion of biopolitics from black feminist perspective, Weheliye articulates how nonwhite subjects are excluded from the category of the human as it is enforced in the modern west. He presents the realm of the flesh, as opposed to that of the body, as a stepping stone towards new genres of the human that are not built upon the idea of western man as the image of human life.

• Key text: Alexander G. Weheliye, ‘Bare Life: The Flesh’ in Habeas Viscus: Racializing Assemblages, Biopolitics and Black Feminist Theories of the Human (Duke University Press, 2014)
• Recommended further reading: ‘Introduction’ in Habeas Viscus: Racializing Assemblages, Biopolitics and Black Feminist Theories of the Human

Excerpts of the text will be read together during the session to support open discussion

For access to and further information on the readings, please email nella.aarne@ica.art

This monthly reading group led by curator Nella Aarne thinks through feminist engagements with human and non-human agents in the material world. The reading group meets every month at the ICA and is always open to all

Part of: Of Animacy Reading Group