L'Shleimut: A Jewish Radical Tradition Against Capitalist Science and Medicine - Paperback

by Yarden Azoulay Katz (Author), Anna Zeligowski (Illustrator)

A restoration of Jewish traditions for healing the world.

L'Shleimut uncovers an overlooked Jewish tradition of resistance to capitalist science and medicine. Yarden Azoulay Katz traces the lives and work of Jewish scientists, healers, artists, and activists who challenged the racist, sexist, and for-profit expectations of science and medicine. They all aspired toward shleimut (wholeness): repairing what's broken in this world and creating life-affirming alternatives. The book explores diverse figures, including anarchist midwives, radical herbalists, AIDS activists, and socialist biologists. Working as part of broader social movements, these Jewish radicals employed their own ancestral traditions in fighting capitalism while creating an interdependent view of our bodies, our health, and ecology. Accompanied by original illustrations from physician-artist Anna Zeligowski, L'Shleimut shows how this radical tradition has been passed down from generation to generation. It offers wholeness as a principle to inspire anyone engaged in the struggle for a better world.

Back Jacket

L'Shleimut uncovers an overlooked Jewish tradition of resistance to capitalist science and medicine. Yarden Azoulay Katz shows how Jewish radicals have aspired toward shleimut (wholeness): repairing what's broken in this world. Katz explores diverse figures--including anarchist midwives, members of ACT UP, socialist biologists, and radical herbalists--to illustrate how Jewish ancestral practices inspire resistance to the racist, sexist, and profit-driven expectations of mainstream science and medicine. Accompanied by original illustrations from physician-artist Anna Zeligowski, L'Shleimut offers wholeness as a principle to inspire anyone engaged in the struggle for a better world.

Author Biography

Yarden Azoulay Katz is assistant professor of American culture and digital studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He received his PhD in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT. His writing and teaching focus on the ties between science, capitalism, and imperialism, and on the quest for liberatory alternatives. He is the author of Artificial Whiteness: Politics and Ideology in Artificial Intelligence.