August 15, 2025 - English Studies

“We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal: A Critical Analysis

“We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal first appeared in 1964 in her debut poetry collection of the same name, We Are Going.

Introduction: “We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal

“We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal first appeared in 1964 in her debut poetry collection of the same name, We Are Going. As the first published volume of poetry by an Aboriginal Australian woman, it marked a milestone in Australian literature and Indigenous political expression. The poem powerfully conveys themes of cultural loss, colonisation, and displacement, using direct, unembellished language to express the grief of a people witnessing the erasure of their traditions and land. The repeated refrain “We are” asserts cultural identity, while the final “And we are going” delivers a poignant acknowledgment of disappearance and survival in the face of oppression. Its popularity stems from its political urgency during the 1960s Aboriginal rights movement, its accessible yet lyrical style, and its deep emotional resonance, encapsulated in vivid images such as “We are the corroboree and the bora ground” and “The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place,” which highlight the intertwined loss of culture and environment.

Text: “We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal

They came in to the little town

A semi-naked band subdued and silent

All that remained of their tribe.

They came here to the place of their old bora ground

Where now the many white men hurry about like ants.

Notice of the estate agent reads: ‘Rubbish May Be Tipped Here’.

Now it half covers the traces of the old bora ring.

‘We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers.

We belong here, we are of the old ways.

We are the corroboree and the bora ground,

We are the old ceremonies, the laws of the elders.

We are the wonder tales of Dream Time, the tribal legends told.

We are the past, the hunts and the laughing games, the wandering camp fires.

We are the lightening bolt over Gaphembah Hill

Quick and terrible,

And the Thunderer after him, that loud fellow.

We are the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon.

We are the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the camp fires burn low.

We are nature and the past, all the old ways

Gone now and scattered.

The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter.

The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place.

The bora ring is gone.

The corroboree is gone.

And we are going.’

Annotations: “We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal

Line from Poem	Simple English Meaning	Literary Devices
They came in to the little town	A small group of Aboriginal people arrive in a town.	🖼 Imagery
A semi-naked band subdued and silent	They are partly clothed, quiet, and subdued — showing loss of dignity.	🖼 Imagery, 🎭 Tone (melancholy)
All that remained of their tribe.	Only a few survivors remain from a once large tribe.	🎭 Tone (tragic)
They came here to the place of their old bora ground	They return to a sacred ceremonial site.	🖼 Imagery, 🏺 Cultural reference
Where now the many white men hurry about like ants.	The site is now taken over by white settlers, busy and ignoring its importance.	🖼 Simile (“like ants”)
Notice of the estate agent reads: ‘Rubbish May Be Tipped Here’.	A sign says trash can be dumped here — an insult to the sacred site.	🎭 Irony, 🖼 Imagery
Now it half covers the traces of the old bora ring.	Trash has buried what’s left of the sacred circle.	🖼 Imagery, 🎭 Symbolism
‘We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers.	They feel like outsiders in their own land, even though settlers are the newcomers.	🎭 Paradox, ✊ Political statement
We belong here, we are of the old ways.	They are the original custodians of the land, tied to traditions.	🖼 Imagery, ✊ Assertion of identity
We are the corroboree and the bora ground,	They are the traditions and sacred sites.	🖋 Metaphor, 🏺 Cultural reference
We are the old ceremonies, the laws of the elders.	They embody the ceremonies and ancient laws.	🖋 Metaphor, 🏺 Cultural reference
We are the wonder tales of Dream Time, the tribal legends told.	They are the stories and myths of their people.	🖋 Metaphor, 🏺 Mythological reference
We are the past, the hunts and the laughing games, the wandering camp fires.	They represent past lifestyles and traditions.	🖋 Metaphor, 🖼 Nostalgic imagery
We are the lightening bolt over Gaphembah Hill	They are as powerful and striking as lightning over the hill.	🖋 Metaphor, 🖼 Nature imagery
Quick and terrible,	They are fierce and powerful.	🎭 Tone (forceful), 🖼 Imagery
And the Thunderer after him, that loud fellow.	They are like the thunder that follows lightning.	🖋 Personification, 🖼 Nature imagery
We are the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon.	They are the calm beauty of dawn.	🖋 Metaphor, 🖼 Nature imagery
We are the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the camp fires burn low.	They are fading spirits of their ancestors.	🖋 Metaphor, 👻 Symbolism
We are nature and the past, all the old ways	They are the land, traditions, and history.	🖋 Metaphor, 🖼 Nature imagery
Gone now and scattered.	Those traditions are now lost and dispersed.	🎭 Tone (mourning)
The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter.	The bush, hunting, and joy are gone.	🖼 Imagery, 🎭 Loss motif
The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place.	Native animals have disappeared from here.	🖼 Imagery, 🏞 Environmental loss
The bora ring is gone.	The sacred ceremonial ground is destroyed.	🎭 Repetition, 🖼 Symbolism
The corroboree is gone.	Ceremonial dances are lost.	🎭 Repetition, 🖼 Symbolism
And we are going.’	They themselves are disappearing.	🎭 Repetition, 🖋 Metaphor (cultural extinction)

Literary And Poetic Devices: “We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal

Device	Example from Poem	Explanation	Function in the Poem
👻 Allusion (Cultural/Mythological)	“Dream Time”	Reference to Aboriginal creation stories	Grounds the poem in Indigenous spiritual heritage, asserting cultural identity.
🐜 Analogy	“White men hurry about like ants”	Compares settlers’ movements to ants	Highlights busyness and lack of awareness of cultural significance.
⚖ Antithesis	“We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers.”	Contrasting ideas in one statement	Shows irony of dispossession — original owners treated as outsiders.
🎭 Contrast	“We belong here… The bora ring is gone.”	Juxtaposition of belonging and loss	Emphasises the tragedy of cultural erasure.
🔁 Epistrophe (Repetition at End)	“…is gone… is gone… is gone.”	Repetition of the same phrase at the ends of lines	Reinforces sense of loss and finality.
🪞 Imagery	“The quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon”	Descriptive language appealing to senses	Evokes emotional connection to land and nature.
🏺 Juxtaposition	“Old bora ground” vs “Rubbish May Be Tipped Here”	Placing sacred and profane side by side	Highlights disrespect and cultural desecration.
📜 Listing	“The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo…”	Sequence of related items	Creates cumulative effect of loss and environmental decline.
🎵 Metaphor	“We are the corroboree and the bora ground”	Comparing without using ‘like’ or ‘as’	Shows inseparability of people and cultural traditions.
🎤 Parallelism	Repeated “We are…” structure	Repetition of grammatical structure	Creates rhythm and reinforces identity assertion.
🤔 Paradox	“We are as strangers… but the white tribe are the strangers.”	Self-contradictory yet truthful statement	Challenges colonial perspective and asserts rightful ownership.
🖋 Personification	“The Thunderer after him, that loud fellow.”	Giving human qualities to thunder	Adds character and vividness to natural forces.
⏳ Refrain	“We are…” repeated throughout	Recurring phrase in multiple lines	Acts as a heartbeat of the poem, affirming continuity of culture.
🌀 Repetition	“Gone… gone… gone.”	Repeating a word/phrase	Intensifies emotional weight of loss.
🖼 Simile	“White men hurry about like ants”	Comparing with “like”	Creates a visual image of settler activity.
⛰ Symbolism	“Bora ring”	Represents Aboriginal spiritual and cultural life	Encapsulates tradition, law, and community in a single image.
⏏ Tone (Mournful/Defiant)	“And we are going.”	Author’s attitude toward subject	Conveys sorrow at loss but also resilience through voice.
🧵 Theme	Dispossession, cultural erasure, environmental loss	Recurring central ideas	Frames the poem as political and historical testimony.
🌏 Zoomorphism	“The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo…”	Using animal references to represent place and spirit	Connects identity to native fauna and land.

Themes: “We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal

🌏 Theme 1: Dispossession of Land and Culture: “We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal foregrounds the deep wound of dispossession suffered by Aboriginal Australians. The poem contrasts the sacredness of the “old bora ground” with the intrusion of settlers who “hurry about like ants” and even place a sign reading “Rubbish May Be Tipped Here.” This degradation of sacred sites is not just physical but symbolic, showing how colonisation strips away spiritual connection to the land. The refrain “The bora ring is gone. The corroboree is gone.” reinforces the extent of cultural erasure, presenting dispossession as both a loss of tangible heritage and a rupture in community identity.

🧵 Theme 2: Cultural Identity and Continuity: “We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal asserts Aboriginal identity through the recurring declaration “We are…”, which transforms the poem into an anthem of belonging. By claiming “We are the corroboree and the bora ground… We are the wonder tales of Dream Time,” the speaker resists erasure, intertwining selfhood with tradition, law, and spirituality. Even in the face of loss, the poem preserves the memory of ceremonies, legends, and landscapes, suggesting that identity is not only inherited but also carried forward in words and stories, ensuring cultural continuity despite oppression.

🏞 Theme 3: Loss of Nature and Environment: “We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal links the loss of culture to the decline of the natural environment. The lament “The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place” reveals how environmental destruction mirrors the erasure of Aboriginal life. Nature is not separate from culture; it is woven into spiritual identity — “We are nature and the past, all the old ways.” By pairing the disappearance of fauna and flora with the vanishing of rituals, the poem highlights how colonisation disrupts ecological balance as well as cultural survival.

⚖ Theme 4: Injustice and Colonial Irony: “We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal exposes the paradox of Aboriginal people being treated as outsiders in their own land: “We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers.” This inversion underlines the injustice of colonisation, where the original custodians are displaced by newcomers who then claim ownership. The tone here is both mournful and defiant — mournful for the past that is “gone now and scattered,” yet defiant in reasserting that “We belong here, we are of the old ways.” Through this irony, the poem becomes a political statement on historical wrongs that continue to shape the present.

Literary Theories and “We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal

Theory	Explanation	References from Poem	Application to the Poem
✊ Postcolonial Theory	Examines the effects of colonisation, focusing on power, identity, and cultural erasure.	“We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers.” / “The bora ring is gone.”	Highlights the displacement of Indigenous Australians, the loss of land, and the irony of being made outsiders in their own country.
🧬 Cultural Identity Theory	Analyses how cultural traditions, values, and heritage shape identity.	“We are the corroboree and the bora ground… We are the wonder tales of Dream Time.”	Shows how Aboriginal identity is inseparable from land, ceremonies, and ancestral stories, asserting continuity even in the face of loss.
🏞 Ecocriticism	Studies the relationship between literature and the environment.	“The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place.” / “We are nature and the past, all the old ways.”	Connects environmental destruction with cultural extinction, revealing colonisation’s impact on both people and ecosystems.
🎭 Structuralism	Looks at patterns, symbols, and binary oppositions in a text.	Opposition of “We” vs “white tribe” / Repeated structure “We are…”	Analyses the poem’s structure, where repetition creates a chant-like rhythm, and binary opposites highlight cultural contrast and conflict.

Critical Questions about “We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal

❓ Question 1: How does the poem convey the experience of cultural dispossession?

“We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal powerfully conveys the experience of cultural dispossession through its contrast between sacred traditions and their degradation. The “old bora ground,” once a place of ceremony and identity, is now defiled by a sign declaring “Rubbish May Be Tipped Here,” symbolising colonial disregard for Aboriginal heritage. This violation is deepened by the repetition of “The bora ring is gone. The corroboree is gone,” which captures the systematic dismantling of cultural life. The paradoxical statement, “We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers,” highlights the injustice of displacement, where the original custodians are alienated from their own land. Through vivid imagery, repetition, and irony, the poem transforms dispossession into both a lament and a historical testimony.

❓ Question 2: In what ways does the poem assert Aboriginal identity?

“We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal asserts Aboriginal identity through the insistent repetition of “We are…,” which functions as both a declaration of existence and a reclamation of belonging. Lines such as “We are the corroboree and the bora ground… We are the wonder tales of Dream Time” link identity to ceremony, law, and oral tradition, showing that culture lives within the people themselves. This identity is further expanded through the metaphor “We are nature and the past, all the old ways,” connecting Aboriginal selfhood to the environment and ancestral history. The consistent rhythm created by the refrain reinforces a sense of unity and resilience, suggesting that even in the face of cultural erosion, identity survives through memory, storytelling, and collective voice.

❓ Question 3: How is nature portrayed in the poem, and what role does it play?

“We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal presents nature as both a spiritual partner and a victim of colonial impact. The imagery of “The quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon” and “The lightning bolt over Gaphembah Hill” celebrates the beauty, power, and sacredness of the natural world, reinforcing its role in cultural identity. Yet the lament, “The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place,” reveals an ecological loss that parallels the cultural dispossession of Aboriginal people. Nature is not depicted as a passive backdrop but as a living presence, inseparably woven into traditions, ceremonies, and beliefs. Its absence signals more than environmental decline; it signifies the breaking of a spiritual bond between people and land.

❓ Question 4: What is the significance of the poem’s ending?

“We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal ends with the poignant phrase “And we are going,” encapsulating themes of departure, disappearance, and transformation. The word “going” resonates with ambiguity: it may imply forced removal, the fading of traditions, or a spiritual journey toward ancestors. Its echo of the earlier repetition of “gone” creates a mournful rhythm that mirrors the gradual loss described throughout the poem. However, the voice that has asserted “We are” so strongly throughout suggests that this departure may not be complete erasure but rather a shift into another form of cultural presence. By closing with this unresolved note, the poem leaves the reader reflecting on both the fragility and endurance of Aboriginal culture.

Literary Works Similar to “We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal

“Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal – Shares themes of colonisation and displacement, using imagery of a chained gum tree as a metaphor for the confinement of Aboriginal culture.
“Then and Now” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal – Explores cultural loss and change in an urbanised landscape, echoing the lament and contrasts found in “We Are Going”.
“Drifters” by Bruce Dawe – Though not Indigenous-focused, it similarly captures the sense of transience, dislocation, and the fading of past lives.

“The Stolen Generation” by Peter Read (poetic adaptation) – Conveys the trauma of forced separation and cultural disconnection, resonating with the dispossession in “We Are Going”.
“The Death of the Bird” by A.D. Hope – Uses nature to symbolise exile and alienation, reflecting the environmental and spiritual loss central to “We Are Going”.

Representative Quotations of “We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal

Quotation	Context	Theoretical Perspective
✊ “We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers.”	Spoken by the collective Aboriginal voice, this line highlights the irony of colonisation where original custodians are alienated from their own land.	Postcolonial Theory – exposes the reversal of belonging and the politics of identity.
🏺 “We are the corroboree and the bora ground.”	Asserting identity, the speaker equates themselves with sacred ceremonies and sites, showing culture as inseparable from people.	Cultural Identity Theory – positions tradition as core to self-definition.
🌏 “We are nature and the past, all the old ways.”	Merges cultural heritage with the natural world, emphasising an ecological and spiritual unity.	Ecocriticism – links environmental preservation with cultural survival.
⚖ “The bora ring is gone.”	A stark statement of cultural destruction, referring to the loss of sacred initiation sites.	Structuralism – symbolic of an entire system of cultural law and order being dismantled.
🐜 “Where now the many white men hurry about like ants.”	Depicts settlers’ busy, unconscious movement across a sacred space, contrasting with Aboriginal reverence for the land.	Postcolonial Theory – critiques colonial disregard for Indigenous spaces.
👻 “We are the wonder tales of Dream Time, the tribal legends told.”	Declares identity through oral tradition and myth, situating culture in storytelling.	Mythological/Anthropological Criticism – analyses the role of sacred narratives in cultural continuity.
🖋 “The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place.”	Notes the disappearance of native animals, symbolising environmental and cultural degradation.	Ecocriticism – examines biodiversity loss as part of colonial impact.
⏳ “Gone now and scattered.”	Concise lament for the dispersal of traditions, people, and ways of life.	Postcolonial Theory – reflects fragmentation of community under colonial pressures.
🎵 “We are the lightening bolt over Gaphembah Hill… And the Thunderer after him.”	Uses powerful natural imagery to express cultural force and vitality.	Cultural Identity Theory – frames nature as a metaphor for Indigenous strength and resilience.
🌀 “And we are going.”	The concluding line, open to interpretation as physical departure, cultural extinction, or transformation.	Reader-Response Criticism – invites multiple interpretations based on personal and historical context.

“Biopower Below And Before The Individual” By Kyla Schuller: Summary and Critique

“Biopower Below and Before the Individual” by Kyla Schuller first appeared in 2016 in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies (Vol. 22, No. 4), published by Duke University Press, as part of a review essay engaging with Paul B. Preciado’s Testo Junkie, Rachel C. Lee’s The Exquisite Corpse of Asian America, and Kyla Wazana Tompkins’s Racial Indigestion.

Introduction: “Biopower Below And Before The Individual” By Kyla Schuller

“Biopower Below and Before the Individual” by Kyla Schuller first appeared in 2016 in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies (Vol. 22, No. 4), published by Duke University Press, as part of a review essay engaging with Paul B. Preciado’s Testo Junkie, Rachel C. Lee’s The Exquisite Corpse of Asian America, and Kyla Wazana Tompkins’s Racial Indigestion. Schuller situates these works within the evolution of Foucauldian biopolitical theory, advancing the concept of “force” as a third biopolitical vector operating alongside the individual and the population. This “force” encompasses subindividual materialities—cells, hormones, microbes, affects—that circulate within and beyond bodies, shaping gendered and racialized difference through their extraction, circulation, and commodification (Schuller 631–632). Drawing on examples such as Alan Turing’s coerced estrogen treatment, Schuller illustrates how contemporary queer-feminist scholarship maps the regulatory and market forces governing corporeal fragments, from hormonal flows to microbial exchanges. The article’s significance in literature and literary theory lies in its intervention into critical race studies, queer theory, and feminist science studies, expanding biopower’s analytic frame to include the molecular and affective registers that undergird narrative, embodiment, and identity. By weaving together literary texts, performance art, and historical case studies, Schuller demonstrates how attention to subindividual economies opens new interpretive and resistant possibilities—an approach that has since influenced cross-disciplinary discussions of biopolitics in cultural production.

Summary of “Biopower Below And Before The Individual” By Kyla Schuller

1. Context and Publication

Published in 2016 in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, Schuller’s essay reviews three key works: Paul B. Preciado’s Testo Junkie, Rachel C. Lee’s The Exquisite Corpse of Asian America, and Kyla Wazana Tompkins’s Racial Indigestion.
Frames discussion through the lens of Foucauldian biopolitics, expanding the theory to subindividual processes.

2. Case Study: Alan Turing and Biopower

Turing’s story exemplifies three vectors of biopower:
- Emergence of the homosexual as a medical-juridical subject
- Population governance through risk calculation
- Hormone circulation as securitization tactic (Schuller 630).
“Turing… became a participant in another key development in biopower—the invention of medicalized gender” (Schuller 630).
His coerced estrogen treatment demonstrates state control at the molecular level.

3. Introduction of “Force” as Third Biopolitical Entity

Beyond individual and population, Schuller identifies “force” as:
- “Affects, molecules, morsels, organs, microbes… hormones… particles and intensities” circulating through bodies and milieus (Schuller 631).
Force mediates material flows shaping gender and racial difference via extraction and traffic of biological elements.

Example: estrogen in Turing’s body as a politically regulated flow.

4. Rachel C. Lee’s Contribution

Proposes “the tripartite scales of biosociality—the scale of the person, the scale of the microbe, and the scale of the population” (30).
Challenges both essentialist racial biology and rigid social-constructionist models in Asian American studies.

Shows how fragmented bodies generate “micro-scale risk factors as the new markers of difference” (57).
Literature and performance art demonstrate human-microbe interdependence as resistance to rigid humanism.

5. Paul B. Preciado’s Pharmacopornographic Power

Describes a new biopolitical regime where capitalism operates through “miniaturization” of control at the molecular level (79).

Coined term “techno-gender”, framing gender as “a biotech industrial artifact” (101).
Critiques neoliberalism as extracting “orgasmic force” (70) for profit and subject formation.
Criticized for marginalizing race as a central structuring element of biopower.

6. Kyla Wazana Tompkins’s Queer Alimentarity

Positions eating as a longstanding biopolitical practice regulating racial formation and national identity.
“Eating as a trope and technology of racial formation” links consumption with the consolidation of white political subjectivity (2).
Portrays black bodies as analogized to food, feeding into “the libidinal logic of American racism” (90).

The eroticized mouth functions as a site where sexuality, race, and national identity intersect.

7. Shared Scholarly Intervention

All three works push biopolitical theory below and before the individual, focusing on consumable, penetrant, dispersible, and absorbable forms of power (Schuller 636).
Challenges literary and cultural theory to track flows of force that shape race, gender, and sexuality at molecular, affective, and subhuman levels.

Theoretical Terms/Concepts in “Biopower Below And Before The Individual” By Kyla Schuller

🌟 Theoretical Term / Concept	📚 Explanation	📝 Example with Reference
🧬 Biopower	Foucault’s concept of the state’s regulation of life through managing bodies and populations.	Turing’s sentencing to estrogen injections illustrates state intervention in sexuality and bodily functions (Schuller, 630).
🌊 Force	Schuller’s proposed third biopolitical vector—subindividual elements (hormones, microbes, affects) that circulate within and beyond bodies.	“Affects, molecules, morsels, organs, microbes… hormones… particles and intensities” shaping racial and gender difference (Schuller, 631).
⚖️ Medical-Juridical Subject	Identity produced through medical and legal discourses.	The categorization of homosexuality in Turing’s trial as both a legal crime and a medical condition (Schuller, 630).
📊 Calculation of Risk	Population governance through statistical prediction and selective sacrifice.	Turing’s “blood-soaked calculus” of redirecting Allied missions, sacrificing some lives for the war effort (Schuller, 630).
💊 Pharmacopornographic Power	Preciado’s term for a regime combining pharmaceutical and pornographic industries to shape gender and sexuality at the molecular level.	“Miniaturization of control” via hormones, silicone, and other molecular flows (Preciado, 79; Schuller, 633).
🧪 Techno-Gender	Gender understood as a biotech industrial product, not a liberatory category.	Origin of “gender” traced to John Money’s lab experiments and the birth control pill (Preciado, 101; Schuller, 633).
🦠 Tripartite Scales of Biosociality	Lee’s framework for analyzing personhood at the levels of person, microbe, and population.	Performance piece My Father’s Teeth in My Mother’s Mouth showing micro-level body politics (Lee, 30; Schuller, 631–632).
🔬 Micro-Scale Risk Factors	Health and identity risks produced at subindividual levels, becoming new markers of difference.	Fragmented body producing risk factors tied to visible anatomy (Lee, 57; Schuller, 632).
🍽️ Queer Alimentarity	Tompkins’s concept of the mouth as an erotic and political site where racial and sexual power circulate.	Eating as “a trope and technology of racial formation” in 19th-century American literature (Tompkins, 2; Schuller, 635).
🖤 Libidinal Logic of Racism	Desire and consumption intertwined in racial domination.	Black body as “bare materiality” ingested to consolidate white subjectivity (Tompkins, 90; Schuller, 635).

Contribution of “Biopower Below And Before The Individual” By Kyla Schuller to Literary Theory/Theories

🧬 Queer Theory

Expansion of Foucauldian Biopolitics
- Introduces “force” as a third vector of biopower, moving analysis beyond the individual and population.
- Positions subindividual flows—“affects, molecules, morsels, organs, microbes… hormones”—as central to understanding embodiment (Schuller, 631).

Queer-Feminist Intervention
- Engages with Preciado’s pharmacopornographic power and Lee’s tripartite biosociality to examine how bodies are fragmented and reassembled across race, gender, and sexuality.
- Demonstrates how queer cultural production can resist the stability of “modern personhood” (Schuller, 632).

🌈 Feminist Theory

Critique and Redefinition of Gender
- Engages Preciado’s reframing of gender as “techno-gender”—“a biotech industrial artifact” rather than a natural or liberatory category (Preciado, 101; Schuller, 633).
- Highlights historical contingencies of gender through mid-20th-century hormonal interventions (e.g., Turing’s estrogen treatment).

Intersection with Science Studies
- Brings feminist science studies (e.g., Myra Hird, Elizabeth Wilson) into dialogue with literary analysis, emphasizing the politics of reproduction and bodily fragmentation at the cellular level (Schuller, 632).

🧪 Critical Race Theory

Subindividual Circuits and Racial Formation
- Draws on Rachel C. Lee’s argument that race is reconfigured through “micro-scale risk factors” and bodily fragments, updating earlier frameworks of racial difference (Lee, 57; Schuller, 632).
Challenge to Social Constructionist Models
- Argues for a model of “biological personhood… multiform and distributed” that integrates materiality into racial analysis (Lee, 15; Schuller, 632).

📚 Posthumanism

Beyond Human-Centered Analysis
- Uses Lee’s vision of the human as “an ecology of networked plant-machine-protocist-and-animal symbionts” to critique humanist subjectivity (Lee, 49; Schuller, 632).
- Positions literary and performance art as spaces to imagine multispecies entanglements and molecular politics.

🍽️ Cultural Materialism

Consumption as Biopolitical Practice
- Via Tompkins, links 19th-century eating cultures to racial and sexual politics—“eating as a trope and technology of racial formation” (Tompkins, 2; Schuller, 635).
- Reads food, appetite, and ingestion as political technologies that regulate race, nation, and desire.

⚖️ Historiography of Biopolitics

Bridging Historical Periods
- Connects 19th-century anatomo-politics of eating (Tompkins) with 21st-century molecular governance (Preciado), showing biopower’s continuity and transformation.
Literary Studies as Biopolitical Archive
- Positions novels, performance art, comedy, and dance as critical sites where molecular and affective flows are narrated, staged, and contested.

Examples of Critiques Through “Biopower Below And Before The Individual” By Kyla Schuller

Symbol & Work	Biopower Lens	Illustrative Application of Schuller’s Force Concept
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (2022)	Queer identity as fluid, shaped by subindividual assemblages	Characters as avatars mediated via digital/hormonal circuits—love, creativity, and neurochemistry as forceful flows influencing self and relationships.
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (2022)	Posthuman/microbial circulations across species and space-time	COVID-19 as microfluidic agent connecting lives across centuries—microbes as agents of narrative rupture and existential recalibration.
Trust by Hernan Diaz (2022)	Market forces intersecting with biopolitical subjectivity	Capital and narrative intertwine as ‘force’: financialized bodies and emotional economies shape trust, identity, and historical reality.
Babel by R.F. Kuang (2022)	Biopolitical exploitation of bodies in colonial-industrial contexts	Magical language and opium as molecular forces: colonial extraction of bodies and fluids parallels literary enchantment as biopower.

Criticism Against “Biopower Below And Before The Individual” By Kyla Schuller

🎯 Overextension of the Concept of “Force”

The idea of force as a third vector of biopower is compelling but lacks precise operational definition, making it difficult to apply systematically across literary texts.
Risks becoming a catch-all category for any subindividual element—molecules, affects, microbes—without clear methodological boundaries.

⚖️ Limited Engagement with Race in Preciado’s Framework

While Schuller critiques Preciado for sidelining race, her own synthesis does not fully theorize how “force” specifically interacts with racialization beyond citing Lee and Tompkins.
The racial dimension remains more descriptive than analytical in her expansion of biopower.

📚 Potential Dilution of Literary Analysis

The review’s heavy engagement with theory sometimes overshadows close readings of literary works themselves.

Literary examples are often mediated through the books under review rather than through direct, detailed textual analysis.

🔄 Fragmentation of Theoretical Threads

Bringing together Preciado, Lee, and Tompkins creates a rich interdisciplinary dialogue, but the result can feel overburdened by competing frameworks, reducing theoretical cohesion.
At times, the argument risks becoming a comparative literature review rather than a unified theoretical intervention.

🧪 Underdeveloped Application to Historical Continuities

While Schuller traces connections between 19th-century alimentary politics and 21st-century molecular governance, the historical transitions are asserted rather than fully demonstrated.
Needs more sustained evidence to link past and present regimes of biopower.

Representative Quotations from “Biopower Below And Before The Individual” By Kyla Schuller with Explanation

🌟 Quotation	📚 Explanation
“Three major vectors of Foucauldian biopower: the emergence of the homosexual as a medical-juridical subject, the administration of the population through the calculation of risk, and the circulation of hormones as tactics of securitization” (630)	Summarizes Foucault’s framework as applied to Alan Turing’s life, linking sexuality, governance, and biochemical regulation as instruments of power.
“Force comprises affects, molecules, morsels, organs, microbes, animacies, tissues, cells, hormones, energies, textures, apertures, calories, pheromones, stimulations…” (631)	Defines Schuller’s proposed third vector of biopower—“force”—as subindividual material flows shaping bodies and populations.
“Biological personhood [is] not as fixed or singular but as multiform and distributed” (Lee, 15; 632)	Lee’s redefinition of identity integrates biological materiality into critical race theory, challenging both essentialist and rigid constructionist models.
“Creates micro-scale risk factors as the new markers of difference” (Lee, 57; 632)	Identifies how fragmented biological materials produce new, fine-grained forms of social differentiation tied to anatomy.
“Zoe-fication… a race or ‘species-being’ apart” (Lee, 48; 632)	Describes a biopolitical process in which certain lives are reduced to raw biological material for the benefit of others, resonating with posthumanist critique.
“Miniaturization of control” (Preciado, 79; 633)	Preciado’s term for molecular-level governance in the pharmacopornographic era, where power acts through hormones, drugs, and microtechnologies.
“Gender is a biotech industrial artifact” (Preciado, 101; 633)	Challenges the cultural-linguistic view of gender, reframing it as a product of industrial and biomedical processes.
“Eating as a trope and technology of racial formation” (Tompkins, 2; 635)	Tompkins links consumption and ingestion to racialization, showing how biopower historically acts through dietary and alimentary practices.
“Libidinal logic of American racism” (Tompkins, 90; 635)	Positions desire and consumption as intertwined in racial domination, where Black bodies are figuratively consumed to consolidate white identity.
“Power… circulates and aggregates below and before the level of the individual” (636)	Schuller’s central claim: power operates not only on individuals or populations but also in subindividual, molecular, and material registers.

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Day: August 15, 2025