The concepts of biopolitics and necropolitics in the philosophical tenets of Foucault and Mbembe as references in the construction of interculturality
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21501/23461780.4887Keywords:
Biopolitics, Foucault, Interculturality, Mbembe, Necropolitics, Politics.Abstract
This paper aims to analyze the categories of biopolitics and necropolitics within the philosophical tenets of Michel Foucault (2006) and Achille Mbembe (2011) through a qualitative research paradigm. Both philosophers belong to the contemporary period, yet to different geospatial contexts: the former was born in Europe, and the latter in Africa. However, Mbembe’s theoretical framework is partially constructed by drawing upon Foucauldian philosophical approaches. On this basis, the study seeks to identify the strengths and limitations that may arise in articulating an intercultural project capable of confronting biopolitics (the management of life) and necropolitics (the governance of death), a field that is undoubtedly not harmonious but rather contested. The methodology employed is grounded in the examination of both primary and secondary sources related to Foucauldian biopolitics and Mbembenian necropolitics. The research method used is hermeneutic, due to the historical-philosophical interpretation of biopolitical and necropolitical texts. The main conclusions suggest that: (a) biopolitics administers, safeguards, and multiplies human life; (b) necropolitics manages human death and destroys cultures, epistemes, and entire peoples by rendering them expendable; (c) the exercise of both biopolitics and necropolitics is never absolute or unbreakable, as it always contains lines of escape that may benefit affected populations; and (d) interculturality not only promotes respectful and symmetrical dialogue among cultures, human beings, and epistemes, but also extends this relationship to nature itself, recognizing it as a mother.
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