Excessive Bodies, Reduced Bodies: A Philosophical Critique of the Biopolitics of Disembodiment

Authors

  • Isabel Ríos Gómez Universidad de Granada
  • Ester Massó Guijarro Universidad de Granada

Keywords:

corporeality, mind-body dichotomy, intersectionality, biopolitics, discrimi nation, obstetric violence

Abstract

This article aims to provide a new conceptual framework that allows for a deeper understanding of those biopolitics that we will characterize as oriented towards the reduction of the body. The argumentation will have the following objectives: (1) to show that this biopolitics is based on the ingrained prejudice about the exclusive
understanding between mind and body, (2) to distinguish two generalized types of corporeality that are constructed from this foundational dichotomy, types that we will call “excessive corporealities” and “reduced corporealities”, and (3) to present the social structure created from this division as crossed by an imperative of body reduction; this imperative generates, through more or less explicit violence, a social periphery of excluded bodies and an elite of disembodied subjects. We will conclude
by alluding to the possibility of resisting these biopolitics, reclaiming the exuberance of the body, and restoring its habitability.

Author Biographies

Isabel Ríos Gómez, Universidad de Granada

Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy (2024) from the University of Granada. Currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Research in Contemporary Philosophy at the same university. She is currently part of the Special Chair in Social Philosophy of Bodily Discrimination at the University of Granada and the Women’s Institute, a chair established in June 2023 and scheduled to run until October 2025. Her research areas include bodily discrimination and social exclusion.

Ester Massó Guijarro, Universidad de Granada

Ph.D. from the University of Granada (2009), with Bachelor’s degrees in Philosophy (2003) and Anthropology (2003) from the same university, and a Master’s degree in International Cooperation from the Universities of Granada and Santiago de Compostela (2005). She is currently an Associate Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Granada (UGR), Coordinator of the corresponding department, with three recognized research periods (sexenios) by the CNEAI and an “Excellent” DOCENTIA teaching certification. She is the lead researcher at UGR for the European project IPOV – RESPECTFUL CARE. Her research areas include: 1) Caprivian independence movement in Namibia; 2) Citizenship and the sub-Saharan migratory diaspora; 3) Breastfeeding and feminist matriactivisms.

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Published

2025-06-17

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No. 44 (2025): July-December

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