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NECROPOLITICS VERSUS BIOPOLITICS: Spatialization, White Privilege, and Visibility during a Pandemic
1Princeton University.
Cultural Anthropology : Journal of the Society for Cultural Anthropology
|December 13, 2021
Summary
This study critiques the misuse of biopolitics, revealing how racial inequities in policing and health, exemplified by COVID-19, expose a system prioritizing white lives over Black lives. It highlights the need for accurate application of biopolitical concepts.
Area of Science:
- Social Sciences
- Critical Theory
- Public Health
Background:
- Michel Foucault's concept of biopolitics is frequently employed in anthropological critiques of modern institutions.
- However, the application of biopolitics is often imprecise and oversimplified.
- Recent events, including police brutality against Black individuals, COVID-19 health disparities, and political extremism, highlight critical systemic issues.
Purpose of the Study:
- To critique the misapplication of biopolitical theory in contemporary analyses.
- To examine how racial inequities in the United States are shaped by and can be understood through biopolitical and necropolitical frameworks.
- To analyze the impact of these concepts within academic discourse, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual analysis of biopolitics and necropolitics.
- Critique of existing scholarly applications of Foucault's theories.
- Examination of contemporary case studies including racial injustice and public health crises.
Main Results:
- The study identifies a significant misapplication of biopolitical concepts, leading to a superficial understanding of power dynamics.
- Evidence suggests a dual system where a biopolitical framework ostensibly designed for universal care disproportionately benefits white populations.
- Conversely, a necropolitical framework, which treats Black bodies as disposable, is revealed to be operational.
- The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated and exposed these racial health inequities within the academy and society.
Conclusions:
- A more rigorous and accurate application of biopolitical and necropolitical theories is necessary for understanding systemic racism.
- The facile overuse of biopower obscures the lived realities of racialized populations.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated the urgent need for critical re-evaluation of these concepts within academic and public health spheres.
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