Biopower, food and space

Abstract

This paper schematically considers the exercise of biopower in the regulation of food and drink, tracing the spatiality of biopower and biopolitics as they play out in the trajectory of regulation of two key types of beverage: alcoholic beverages and fluid milk. Empirically, the paper considers 19th century temperance laws and 20th century mandatory milk pasteurization in the United States, highlighting the spatial strategies by which biopower’s reach into digestive tracts was extended across political territories. The account suggest that biopolitical resistance enacts spatial strategies as well.