Achille Mbembe's "Necropolitics"

[@artnarchist1392]

Weizmann's writings on the misappropriation of D and G by the israeli military to think of the 'striations' of urban space as liquid/malleable/smooth is something that I came across while reading Stephen Graham's work "Cities under Siege: The New Urban Militarism" which I thought I'd recommend here in case anyone's interested. Really fascinating stuff! TYSM for these cool summaries, they really make my afternoons pop :)

[@dethkon]

You’re channel is such a valuable resource.

[@mollymccarty1754]

I'm so excited about this episode!

[@LeonieAmmann-j1r]

man I just discovered you you're awesome!

[@harrythantunnai4622]

I found that your tube channel is really hepful for me since I am struggling with learning Social Science Theories.

[@balintkaltenecker4388]

I love your work! Thank you for enriching this platform with such interesting and informative content.

[@qw23er23ty]

Hey David, many thanks for the video. I found it useful, especially the grounding of Mbembe’s essay in the work of the various thinkers he uses to explore his ideas. One thing I missed was a discussion around the themes that Mbembe touches upon with his identification of ‘war machines’. In this, his formulation of necropower and necropolitics seems to move beyond its exercise through solely formal state power and state institutions, but is also employed by non-state actors. This creates an image of a much more diffused and fluid form of power than that proposed by Foucault, one where necropower is employed by various groups within changing zones of influence, for various purposes - and the value and utility of a human body (alive or lifeless) is judged accordingly. This is perhaps one pathway into the suicide bomber, where necropower is both resisted and embodied by a human actor. However, I feel his reference to the suicide bomber is also closely interlinked with his discussion of the suicide of the plantation slave. Acts that reflect the extreme restrictions of those social realities, where the only room for manoeuvre, response, or capacity for power, is the taking of your own life. In this, Mbembe seems to open the window to the potential for agency within the governmentality of necropower, something that again he references earlier with the slave’s continued capacity for humanity through music despite the extremely dehumanizing conditions. Finally, though, leading into his reflection on the suicide bomber Mbembe references Bataille again, and his thought that it is at the moment of death where we see our true self - the animal. I.e., a state that perhaps strips us of our ideological convictions and leaves us with the reality of our existence. In this sense, the constructed justification for taking life, through production of enmity and the focus and construction of differentiation, is shown to be baseless. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

[@everything_is_theatre]

hii, could you explain how the idea of necropolitics can be associated with disasters, essentially man made disasters like a train accident caused due to irregularities in regulations?

[@ParveenKumar-pe2vw]

Hello Can anyone please suggest a contemporary writer in whose works we can explore the necropolitical themes. I need to explore it as a PhD topic.

[@JeffMonsoon]

Where did Carl Schmitt discuss the State At Siege?

[@eanji36]

I would be interested in your take on patipolitics

[@larissabsa]

Congrats 🎉. Excellent video. How do you think the Mbebe concepts apply to pandemic COVID management in the the US?

[@mauribonada2425]

Hello there! This a well know aspect of modern conflicts where the lockdowns are use to test the populations response and to insert some (prefabricated) responses to the managment of internal or external agresions. After lockdowns the populations have achieve a sense of tolerance toward things that would be forgiven so easily in the past. There are a few many wise men talking about this, obviously because of the times we are heading to.

[@mauribonada2425]

*after lockdowns, the population has achievea sense of tolerance toward things that WOULD'NT be forgiven easily in the past. (More maleable minds on behalf of some kind of propaganda)

[@ninanoble8252]

Could you please keep the ads either to the beginning, or the end of your videos? Or, at least not in the middle of some related concepts? It feels bad while one is listening actively, all of a sudden we are interrupted.

[@TheoryPhilosophy]

Hi Nina you'll be able to find all these episodes on iTunes, Spotify, Google podcasts, or any other podcast site without ads :)

[@kennybrays8043]

Fam, you need re-reread Gilroy Black Atlantic again. Gilroy never conceptualized slavery or post enslavenement as a phenomenon that embodied "beauty" "despite it horrors" lol. what?

[@TheoryPhilosophy]

I have a couple episodes on Gilroy's book of you're interested :)

[@lZY8d70P-sTP]

It has to be pronounced "ak-ILL", right? Maybe akillEE if you're super anglophone. Only because you said you really do care about pronunciation, i have to commend the way you say Deleuze, but point out that Guattari should be read as gwa-ta-REE. Sorry if this has already been pointed out to you, and thank you for your content.

[@cyprien20006]

ASHille

[@paulhaube]

Death is not a bad or good situation. It is a natural process or manufactured by humans. To moralize or intellectualize death is futile because IT WILL HAPPEN. Think: living!

[@Sfagrell]

You think it’s futile to moralize manufactured death? That is an absurd take.

[@jakecarlo9950]

Eyal Weizman, “Israeli Military Using Post-Structuralism as ‘Operational Theory’” www.sholetteseminars.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Israeli.MilitaryPostStruct.pdf