Biocultural Creatures: Toward a New Theory of the Human

by Samantha Frost

Overview

In Biocultural Creatures, Samantha Frost brings feminist and political theory together with findings in the life sciences to recuperate the category of the human for politics. Challenging the idea of human exceptionalism as well as other theories of subjectivity that rest on a distinction between biology and culture, Frost proposes that humans are biocultural creatures who quite literally are cultured within the material, social, and symbolic worlds they inhabit. Through discussions about carbon, the functions of cell membranes, the activity of genes and proteins, the work of oxygen, and the passage of time, Frost recasts questions about the nature of matter, identity, and embodiment.  In doing so, she elucidates the imbrication of the biological and cultural within the corporeal self.  In remapping the relation of humans to their habitats and arriving at the idea that humans are biocultural creatures, Frost provides new theoretical resources for responding to political and environmental crises and for thinking about how to transform the ways we live. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780822361282
Publisher:	Duke University Press
Publication date:	06/10/2016
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Samantha Frost is Associate Professor of Political Science and Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is the coeditor of New Materialisms: Ontology, Agency, and Politics, also published by Duke UniversityPress, and the author of Lessons from a Materialist Thinker: Hobbesian Reflections on Ethics and Politics.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments  ix

Introduction  1

1. Carbon  31

2. Membranes  53

3. Proteins  77

4. Oxygen  101

5. Time  119

Conclusion  147

Notes  161

References  167

Index  183

What People are Saying About This

Liminal Lives: Imagining the Human at the Frontiers of Biomedicine - Susan Merrill Squier

"Samantha Frost offers a clear, accessible, and theoretically invigorated exploration of the life sciences, demonstrating the need for a new theory of the human."

Gene E. Robinson

"Samantha Frost has fashioned an exciting new conceptualization of human nature by creatively synthesizing a deep dive into contemporary biology with mastery of humanist theory. By explicating and analyzing biological discoveries revealing that the boundaries between DNA, self, and the environment are much more fluid than ever imagined, Biocultural Creatures builds an important bridge between the humanities and the sciences."

Editorial Reviews

"Frost’s important text is creative, profoundly suggestive, and painstakingly argued."

Theory & Event - Romand Coles

"This is a remarkable book, of interest and highly recommended to any researcher--across scientific, social science, and humanities disciplines--exploring the intersections of life sciences and politics, 'filling out the conceptual hunches' of posthumanism, or in any way intrigued by how matter matters at all levels of our creaturely experience."

--Emily Beausoleil "Theory & Event" (7/1/2017 12:00:00 AM)

"Frost's important text is creative, profoundly suggestive, and painstakingly argued."--Romand Coles "Theory & Event" (4/1/2018 12:00:00 AM)

From the Publisher

"This is a remarkable book, of interest and highly recommended to any researcher—across scientific, social science, and humanities disciplines—exploring the intersections of life sciences and politics, 'filling out the conceptual hunches' of posthumanism, or in any way intrigued by how matter matters at all levels of our creaturely experience."

Theory & Event - Emily Beausoleil

"Samantha Frost has fashioned an exciting new conceptualization of human nature by creatively synthesizing a deep dive into contemporary biology with mastery of humanist theory. By explicating and analyzing biological discoveries revealing that the boundaries between DNA, self, and the environment are much more fluid than ever imagined, Biocultural Creatures builds an important bridge between the humanities and the sciences."

Gene E. Robinson

"Samantha Frost offers a clear, accessible, and theoretically invigorated exploration of the life sciences, demonstrating the need for a new theory of the human."

Liminal Lives: Imagining the Human at the Frontiers of Biomedicine - Susan Merrill Squier