Shit made public: politics of faeces in urban spaces, art, and bioethics

This project focuses on excrement that is either made public or made in public, and the political and ethical questions about equality and justice that it raises. Excrement is political and ethical because it is necessary and central to all life. The purpose is to study and develop the politics of faeces in Finland and globally by mapping the sensory aspects of faeces and defecation as political and ethical issues; by developing the concepts of intestinal and visceral citizenship; and by analysing (in)equalities of toileting and the socioeconomic stigmatisation of public defecation. By analysing the practices and attitudes around faeces in care, urban spaces, and arts, the aim is to understand the political and ethical aspects of faeces and defecation in Finnish society and in the global context to reduce inequalities related to defecation, to improve the valuation of “dirty work” in addressing the care deficit in aging societies, and to mobilise the radical potential of faeces.