Society & Culture / Literary Studies & Writing / Literary Theory & Criticism

Biopoetics vs Biopolitics: How Latin American Writers Rethink Life, Animals, and Power

Biopoéticas para las biopolíticas

Julieta Yelin

In this video, we dive into Julieta Yelin's groundbreaking 2020 book, *Biopoéticas para las biopolíticas*, which explores how Latin American literature and criticism confront the 'question of the animal' through a posthumanist lens. Yelin introduces the concept of 'biopoetics'—a reading device that identifies how literary writing taps into 'life' or 'the living' at its core. We break down how this experimental approach places bodies and emotions at the center of narrative, serving as an ethical and political mirror to biopolitics (think Foucault, Agamben, Esposito). Discover why Latin American literary thought is uniquely positioned to challenge our assumptions about species, power, and what it means to be alive. By the end, you'll understand how biopoetics offers a fresh, radical way to rethink the boundaries between human, animal, and the political.