"Alan Hyde has produced a stunning critical anatomy of how the human
body figures (and is figured) in American legal discourse. Anyone who
wants to understand the myriad mechanisms by which law constructs and
regulates corporeality would do well to start with this book. Bodies of
Law will stand as a decisive intervention in the sudy of law and
contemporary 'body politics.'"--Kendall Thomas, Columbia Law SchoolThe
most basic assertions about our bodies--that they are ours and
distinguish us from each other, that they are private and have
boundaries, races, and genders--are all political theories, constructed
in legal texts for political purposes. So argues Alan Hyde in this first
account of the body in legal thought. Hyde demonstrates that none of the
constructions of the body in legal texts are universal truths that rest
solely on body experience. Drawing on an array of fascinating case
material, he shows that legal texts can construct all kinds of bodies,
including those that are not owned at all, that are just like other
bodies, that are public, open, and accessible to others. Further, the
language, images, and metaphors of the body in legal texts can often
convince us of positions to which we would not assent as a matter of
political theory.Through analysis of legal texts, Hyde shows, for
example, how law's words construct the vagina as the most searchable
body part; the penis as entirely under mental control; the bone marrow
that need not be shared with a half-sibling who will die without it; and
urine that must be surrendered for drug testing in rituals of national
purification. This book will interest anyone concerned with cultural
studies, gender studies, ethnic studies, andpolitical theory, or anyone
who has heard the phrase "body constructed in discourse" and wants to
see, step by step, exactly how this is done.
