The Biopolitics of Beauty

Cosmetic Citizenship and Affective Capital in Brazil

Nonfiction, Health & Well Being, Beauty & Grooming, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology, Health
Cover of the book The Biopolitics of Beauty by Alvaro Jarrín, University of California Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Alvaro Jarrín ISBN: 9780520967212
Publisher: University of California Press Publication: August 29, 2017
Imprint: University of California Press Language: English
Author: Alvaro Jarrín
ISBN: 9780520967212
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication: August 29, 2017
Imprint: University of California Press
Language: English

The Biopolitics of Beauty examines how beauty became an aim of national health in Brazil. Using ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Brazilian hospitals, the author shows how plastic surgeons and patients navigate the public health system to transform beauty into a basic health right. The book historically traces the national concern with beauty to Brazilian eugenics, which established beauty as an index of the nation’s racial improvement. From here, Jarrín explains how plastic surgeons became the main proponents of a raciology of beauty, using it to gain the backing of the Brazilian state. Beauty can be understood as an immaterial form of value that Jarrín calls “affective capital,” which maps onto and intensifies the social hierarchies of Brazilian society. Patients experience beauty as central to national belonging and to gendered aspirations of upward mobility, and they become entangled in biopolitical rationalities that complicate their ability to consent to the risks of surgery. The Biopolitics of Beauty explores not only the biopolitical regime that made beauty a desirable national project, but also the subtle ways in which beauty is laden with affective value within everyday social practices—thus becoming the terrain upon which race, class, and gender hierarchies are reproduced and contested in Brazil.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Biopolitics of Beauty examines how beauty became an aim of national health in Brazil. Using ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Brazilian hospitals, the author shows how plastic surgeons and patients navigate the public health system to transform beauty into a basic health right. The book historically traces the national concern with beauty to Brazilian eugenics, which established beauty as an index of the nation’s racial improvement. From here, Jarrín explains how plastic surgeons became the main proponents of a raciology of beauty, using it to gain the backing of the Brazilian state. Beauty can be understood as an immaterial form of value that Jarrín calls “affective capital,” which maps onto and intensifies the social hierarchies of Brazilian society. Patients experience beauty as central to national belonging and to gendered aspirations of upward mobility, and they become entangled in biopolitical rationalities that complicate their ability to consent to the risks of surgery. The Biopolitics of Beauty explores not only the biopolitical regime that made beauty a desirable national project, but also the subtle ways in which beauty is laden with affective value within everyday social practices—thus becoming the terrain upon which race, class, and gender hierarchies are reproduced and contested in Brazil.

More books from University of California Press

Cover of the book Barolo and Barbaresco by Alvaro Jarrín
Cover of the book Markets and States in Tropical Africa by Alvaro Jarrín
Cover of the book The Atlas of Religion by Alvaro Jarrín
Cover of the book What Is Enlightenment? by Alvaro Jarrín
Cover of the book Haunting Images by Alvaro Jarrín
Cover of the book Hiding in Plain Sight by Alvaro Jarrín
Cover of the book Catholic Vietnam by Alvaro Jarrín
Cover of the book Maps of Time by Alvaro Jarrín
Cover of the book Reclaiming Late-Romantic Music by Alvaro Jarrín
Cover of the book Performing Piety by Alvaro Jarrín
Cover of the book Yakuza by Alvaro Jarrín
Cover of the book Drama Kings by Alvaro Jarrín
Cover of the book Domestica by Alvaro Jarrín
Cover of the book The Huston Smith Reader by Alvaro Jarrín
Cover of the book Prophets and Patriots by Alvaro Jarrín
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy