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Necropolitics
Necropolitics is the use of social and political power to dictate how some people may live and how some must die. The deployment of necropolitics creates what Achille Mbembe calls ''deathworlds'', or "new and unique forms of social existence in which vast populations are subjected to living conditions that confer upon them the status of the living dead." Mbembe, author of ''On the Postcolony'', was the first scholar to explore the term in depth in his 2003 article, and later, his 2019 book of the same name. Mbembe identifies racism as a prime driver of necropolitics, stating that racialized people's lives are systemically cheapened and habituated to loss. Concept Necropolitics is often discussed as an extension of biopower, the Foucauldian term for the use of social and political power to control people's lives. Foucault first discusses the concepts of biopower and biopolitics in his 1976 work, ''The Will to Knowledge: The History of Sexuality Volume I.'' Foucault presents ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Achille Mbembe
Joseph-Achille Mbembe, known as Achille Mbembe (; born 1957), is a Cameroonian historian, political theorist, and public intellectual who is a research professor in history and politics at the Wits Institute for Social and Economy Research at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is well known for his writings on colonialism and its consequences and is a leading figure in new wave French critical theory.Achille Mbembe to deliver a second "Thinking Africa" Public Lecture , Rhodes University, 5 July 2012 Biography Mbembe was born near in Cameroon in 1957. He obtained his |
State Of Exception
A state of exception (german: Ausnahmezustand) is a concept introduced in the 1920s by the German philosopher and jurist Carl Schmitt, similar to a state of emergency (martial law) but based in the sovereign's ability to transcend the rule of law in the name of the public good. Background The idea that a state may need to deal with unforeseen and critical problems is ancient; for instance, the Republican Roman concept of the dictatorship allowed a single person to take extraordinary measures, under strict controls. Renaissance thinkers such as Machiavelli and Jean Bodin also discussed the problem. However, while monarchy implies elements of unaccountability and extralegal powers, modern republican constitutions attempt to remove these factors, raising the question of how to deal with such emergencies. Before the twentieth century, constitutions did not define a state of emergency in great detail. For instance, the Constitution of the United States allows the suspension of habea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judith Butler
Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butler began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, where they have served, beginning in 1998, as the Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Program of Critical Theory. They are also the Hannah Arendt Chair at the European Graduate School. Butler is best known for their books '' Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity'' (1990) and ''Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex'' (1993), in which they challenge conventional notions of gender and develop their theory of gender performativity. This theory has had a major influence on feminist and queer scholarship. Their work is often studied and debated in film studies courses emphasizing gender studies and performativity in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
On The Postcolony
''On the Postcolony'' is a collection of critical essays by Cameroonian philosopher and political theorist Achille Mbembe. The book is Mbembe's most well-known work and explores questions of power and subjectivity in postcolonial Africa. The book is split into an introduction, six essays – "Of ''Commandement''," "Of Private Indirect Government," "The Aesthetics of Vulgarity," "The Thing and Its Doubles," "Out of the World," and "God's Phallus" – and a conclusion. It has been characterized as "one of the most lastingly provocative and stimulating contributions to the theoretical literature on the postcolonial state in sub-Saharan Africa" and is the winner of the 2006 Bill Venter/Altron Award. ''On the Postcolony'' was first published in French in 2000 under the title ''De la postcolonie: essai sur l'imagination politique dans l'Afrique contemporaine.'' This edition featured a different organizational structure than the English version and did not include Chapter 4, "The Thing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biopower
Biopower (or ''biopouvoir'' in French) is a term coined by French scholar, philosopher, historian, and social theorist Michel Foucault. It relates to the practice of modern nation states and their regulation of their subjects through "an explosion of numerous and diverse techniques for achieving the subjugations of bodies and the control of populations". Foucault first used the term in his lecture courses at the Collège de France, and the term first appeared in print in ''The Will to Knowledge'', Foucault's first volume of ''The History of Sexuality''. In Foucault's work, it has been used to refer to practices of public health, regulation of heredity, and risk regulation, among many other regulatory mechanisms often linked less directly with literal physical health. It is closely related to a term he uses much less frequently, but which subsequent thinkers have taken up independently, biopolitics, which aligns more closely with the examination of the strategies and mechanisms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lauren Berlant
Lauren Gail Berlant (October 31, 1957 – June 28, 2021) was an American scholar, cultural theorist, and author who is regarded as "one of the most esteemed and influential literary and cultural critics in the United States." Berlant was the George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor of English at the University of Chicago, where they taught from 1984 until 2021. Berlant wrote and taught issues of intimacy and belonging in popular culture, in relation to the history and fantasy of citizenship. Berlant wrote on public spheres as they affect worlds, where affect and emotion lead the way for belonging ahead of the modes of rational or deliberative thought. These attach strangers to each other and shape the terms of the state-civil society relation. Early life and education Berlant was born on October 31, 1957, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They graduated with a BA in English from Oberlin College in 1979, then an MA from Cornell University in 1983, and finally a PhD from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Power (social And Political)
In social science and politics, power is the social production of an effect that determines the capacities, actions, beliefs, or conduct of actors. Power does not exclusively refer to the threat or use of force ( coercion) by one actor against another, but may also be exerted through diffuse means (such as institutions). Power may also take structural forms, as it orders actors in relation to one another (such as distinguishing between a master and a slave), and discursive forms, as categories and language may lend legitimacy to some behaviors and groups over others. The term ''authority'' is often used for power that is perceived as legitimate or socially approved by the social structure. Power can be seen as evil or unjust; however, power can also be seen as good and as something inherited or given for exercising humanistic objectives that will help, move, and empower others as well. Scholars have distinguished between soft power and hard power. Theories Five bas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islamophobia
Islamophobia is the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism. The scope and precise definition of the term ''Islamophobia'', is the subject of debate. Some scholars consider it to be a form of xenophobia or racism, some consider Islamophobia and racism to be closely related or partially overlapping phenomena, while others dispute any relationship; primarily on the grounds that religion is not a race. The causes of Islamophobia are also the subject of debate, most notably between commentators who have posited an increase in Islamophobia resulting from the September 11 attacks, the rise of the militant group Islamic State, other terror attacks in Europe and the United States by Islamic extremists, those who associated it with the increased presence of Muslims in the United States and in the European Union, and others who view it as a response to the emergence ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LGBT Community
The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay men, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common LGBT culture, culture and LGBT social movements, social movements. These communities generally celebrate Gay pride, pride, Sexual diversity, diversity, individuality, and Human sexuality, sexuality. LGBT activists and sociologists see LGBT community-building as a counterweight to heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, sexualism, and Conformity, conformist pressures that exist in the larger society. The term ''pride'' or sometimes ''gay pride'' expresses the LGBT community's identity and collective strength; pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. The LGBT community is diverse in political affiliation. Not all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Israeli–Palestinian Conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is one of the world's most enduring conflicts, beginning in the mid-20th century. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, alongside other efforts to resolve the broader Arab–Israeli conflict. Public declarations of claims to a Jewish homeland in Palestine, including the First Zionist Congress of 1897 and the Balfour Declaration of 1917, created early tensions in the region. Following World War I, the Mandate for Palestine included a binding obligation for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". Tensions grew into open sectarian conflict between Jews and Arabs. The 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was never implemented and provoked the 1947–1949 Palestine War. The current Israeli-Palestinian status quo began following Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories in the 1967 Six-Day War. Progress was made ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AIDS In The United States
The AIDS epidemic, caused by HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), found its way to the United States between the 1970s and 1980s, but was first noticed after doctors discovered clusters of Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia in homosexual men in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco in 1981. Treatment of HIV/AIDS is primarily via the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs, and education programs to help people avoid infection. Initially, infected foreign nationals were turned back at the United States border to help prevent additional infections. The number of United States deaths from AIDS has declined sharply since the early years of the disease's presentation domestically. In the United States in 2016, 1.1 million people aged over 13 lived with an HIV infection, of whom 14% were unaware of their infection. Gay and bisexual men, African Americans, and Hispanic/Latino Americans remain disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS in the United States. Mortality and m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Post-9/11
The post-9/11 period is the time after the September 11 attacks, characterized by heightened suspicion of non-Americans in the United States, increased government efforts to address terrorism, and a more aggressive American foreign policy. Political consequences We also must never forget the most vivid events of recent history. On September the 11th, 2001, America felt its vulnerability – even to threats that gather on the other side of the earth. We resolved then, and we are resolved today, to confront every threat, from any source, that could bring sudden terror and suffering to America. – George W. Bush, 2002. The attacks led to significant and widespread changes in U.S. politics and foreign policy. Domestically, both parties rallied around new or strengthened anti-terrorism legislation. Much of this legislation has been funded by western countries. Since 9/11 and as of 2011, there have been 119,044 anti-terror arrests and 35,117 convictions in 66 countries. By contrast, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
