Mbembe’s necropolitics describes populations subjected to the status of the living dead.

Evidence

Going further, Mbembe describes the stigmatized as marked for dying. Noting the extent of ‘the generalized instrumentalization of human existence and the material destruction of human bodies and populations,’ Mbembe suggests the contemporary world is marked by ‘necropolitics’: ‘weapons are deployed in the interest of maximum destruction of persons and the creation of death-worlds, new and unique forms of social existence in which vast populations are subjected to conditions of life conferring on them the status of the living dead.’ For Mbembe, the colonial occupation of contemporary Palestine by Israel has created one such death-world. — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 200

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces Mbembe’s core concept of ‘necropolitics’ and ‘death-worlds’ — central analytic vocabulary for the book.