Utopia and the biopolitics of race: Channel 4'sutopia (2013-15)

Abstract

This paper urges for further engagement with theories of biopolitics and biopower within thediscipline of utopian studies. It concentrates on the ways in which theorizations of biopower exposethe mechanics of utopian discourses, formations, practices, and texts. During modernity, utopianismdemonstrated an increasing preoccupation with issues and concerns pertinent to biopoliticalgovernance. The topos of utopia became less a territorial space and more a corporeal space, in ashift of focus within utopianism from outer space to inner space, from geopolitics to biopolitics. Sucha shift renders biopolitical theory indispensable to utopian studies. The relations betweenutopianism and biopower are explored through a reading of Dennis Kelly's TV series, Utopia(Channel 4, 2013-2015) and the focus is specifically on the ways in which representations of race inthe series are determined by biopolitical discourses.