Arendt, Natality and Biopolitics

A reconsideration of Arendt's work from the perspective of contemporary biopolitical theory Diprose and Ziarek provide a reconfiguration of Hannah Arendt's philosophy of natality from the perspective of biopolitical and feminist theory. They show that Arendt provides new ways of contesting biopolitical threats to human plurality and the way biopolitics, along with sexism, racism and political theology target women's reproductive agency. They also extend Arendt's account of collective political action to include consideration of political hospitality, responsibility and story-telling as ways of countering the harms of biopower. The book offers an insightful account of the political ontology of Hannah Arendt and forms new dialogues between her and major twentieth-century as well as contemporary thinkers including Foucault, Agamben, Nancy, Kristeva, Esposito, Derrida, Levinas and Cavarero. Rosalyn Diprose is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. Ewa Plonowska Ziarek is Julian Park Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Buffalo.