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Achille Mbembe
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Necropolitics (Theory in Forms) Kindle Edition

by Achille Mbembe (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 228 ratings
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In Necropolitics Achille Mbembe, a leader in the new wave of francophone critical theory, theorizes the genealogy of the contemporary world, a world plagued by ever-increasing inequality, militarization, enmity, and terror as well as by a resurgence of racist, fascist, and nationalist forces determined to exclude and kill. He outlines how democracy has begun to embrace its dark side---what he calls its “nocturnal body”---which is based on the desires, fears, affects, relations, and violence that drove colonialism. This shift has hollowed out democracy, thereby eroding the very values, rights, and freedoms liberal democracy routinely celebrates. As a result, war has become the sacrament of our times in a conception of sovereignty that operates by annihilating all those considered enemies of the state. Despite his dire diagnosis, Mbembe draws on post-Foucauldian debates on biopolitics, war, and race as well as Fanon's notion of care as a shared vulnerability to explore how new conceptions of the human that transcend humanism might come to pass. These new conceptions would allow us to encounter the Other not as a thing to exclude but as a person with whom to build a more just world.
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  1. Print length
    226 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Duke University Press Books
  5. Publication date
    October 25, 2019
  6. File size
    600 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The appearance of Achille Mbembe's Necropolitics will change the terms of debate within the English-speaking world. Trenchant in his critique of racism and its relation to the precepts of liberal democracy, Mbembe continues where Foucault left off, tracking the lethal afterlife of sovereign power as it subjects whole populations to what Fanon called ‘the zone of non-being.’ Mbembe not only engages with biopolitics, the politics of enmity, and the state of exception; he also opens up the possibility of a global ethic, one that relies less on sovereign power than on the transnational resistance to the spread of the death-world." -- Judith Butler

“This book establishes Achille Mbembe as the leading humanistic voice in the study of sovereignty, democracy, migration, and war in the contemporary world. Mbembe accomplishes the nearly impossible task of finding a radical path through the darkness of our times and seizes hope from the jaws of what he calls ‘the deadlocks of humanism.’ It is not a comforting book to read, but it is an impossible book to put down.” -- Arjun Appadurai

“Mbembe refreshes the debate in a Europe consumed by the ‘desire of apartheid.’ This is a man who is not afraid to throw national history, identities, and borders out the window. French universalism? ‘Conceited,’ asserts Mbembe. . . . In the style of Edouard Glissant . . . he doesn’t limit his geography to the level of the nation but expands it to the ‘Whole-World.’ He dreams of writing a common history of humanity that would deflate all the flashy national heroism and redraw new relations between the self and the other. In a France and a Europe which are even afraid of their own shadows, one can clearly see the subversive potential of Mbembe’s thought. His latest book Necropolitics, draws the unpleasant portrait of a continent eaten up by the desire of ‘apartheid,’ moved by the obsessive search for an enemy, and with war as its favorite game.” -- Cécile Daumas, ― Libération

“[Mbembe’s] new book . . . is a precious tool to understand what occurs in the North as well as in the South. The analyses of this faithful reader of Franz Fanon are irrevocable: war has become not an exception but a permanent state, ‘the sacrament of our era’. . . . One of the biggest challenges we have to face, Mbembe warns us, is to defend our democracies while including this ‘other’ whom we don’t want if we are to build our common future.” -- Séverine Kodjo-Grandvaux and Michael Pauron ― Jeune Afrique

"[Mbembe's] latest and eminently readable offering . . . speaks to the spirit of our times with such clarity and profundity that it bears all the hallmarks of an instant classic of anti-racist literature." -- Ashish Ghadiali ― Red Pepper Published On: 2020-03-01

"[Necropolitics] is a book that is in places rather complex to read but it is de?nitely worth persevering with, since it is ?lled with interesting insights into such issues as racism, the role of borders and separation, terrorism and its political expression and the mundane and everyday forms of enmity and hatred that shape the contemporary world around us." -- John Solomos ― Ethnic and Racial Studies Published On: 2020-03-05

“Hardly a single longform essay, Necropolitics is a portal of intricate thoughts on the state of the planet. … Mbembe’s latest work is a signi?cant contribution to political and critical theory. Necropolitics is the book of this sti?ing hour, Mbembe its chronicler.” -- Eric Otieno ― Postcolonial Studies Published On: 2020-05-01

“Necropolitics pursues the themes of race and sovereign power as they relate to borders, prisons, war, and policing in the wake of decolonization and the aftermath of the U.S. civil rights struggle…. Mbembe’s commitment to articulating a common humanity as praxis, or as a humanity in creation, when institutions of life-making, care, and social reproduction are subjugated to the overwhelming power of death-making institutions, is what sets Necropolitics apart from other literatures that take up these questions.”

-- Anuja Bose ― Contemporary Political Theory Published On: 2020-09-01

"Necropolitics would be a relevant supplementary text for graduate courses in theory political sociology and international relations.… The book provides the reader with fundamental perspectives on race, that align with common critiques of democracy and Foucault's concept of bioppower while drawing on Fanon's work." -- Kendall L. Gilliam ― International Social Science Review Published On: 2020-12-01

"Before Covid-19, Mbembe’s picture of a world enchanted by its own practice of mass murder-suicide in the name of democracy and liberal values seemed accurate enough. After, or during, or whenever we are, Mbembe’s prescience is horrifying, comforting, and absolutely necessary." -- Aria Dean ― Artforum Published On: 2020-12-01 --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

About the Author

Achille Mbembe is Research Professor in History and Politics at the Wits Institute for Social and Economy Research, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He is author of Critique of Black Reason and coeditor of Johannesburg: The Elusive Metropolis, both also published by Duke University Press. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07ZRDPSFF
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Duke University Press Books (October 25, 2019)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 25, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 600 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 226 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 147800651X
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 228 ratings

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Achille Mbembe

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
228 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

parris baker
5.0 out of 5 stars Necessary concept
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2023
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Necessary conceptual information as political policy choices are now life and death outcomes for marginalized and oppressed populations.
One person found this helpful
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Secret agent man
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2020
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Nicely written .
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James Kalomiris, The Peripatetic Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Not For the Faint of Heart
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2020
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Mbembe sets out the scope of this book very clearly in the Introduction. It is a “critique of our time.” Mbembe delivers. You will be impressed on Mbembe’s ability to place his perspective of the contemporary world. He sets forth this critique in brutal, meticulous detail. At times it is uncomfortable reading, caused by the accuracy of his analysis which is supported by an oddly aloof and dispassionate observation of the atrocities in contemporary world, as befitting the outstanding political philosopher that he is.

Mbembe takes Foucault’s biopolitics and Fanon’s critique of Colonial Imperialism to their next logical stage. He applies Foucault and Fanon to the contemporary world. One gives rise to the other. The West’s Colonial Imperialism exposed the inherent contradictions of Western Liberalism, and its contemporary face is its naked brutality in localities too numerous to mention. If you pay attention to world news at all, you will know where those localities are.

But this is not simply Foucault and not just Fanon. Mbembe has created an entirely new type of politics in this book, based in part on the new complexion of our present world.

The book is highly recommended.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Maritana Quaresma
5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING
Reviewed in Canada on September 26, 2021
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this book is one of the best books I’ve read. It’s very academic and the language isn’t very accessible, unfortunately, but it was expected to be. I wish everyone could read this book and understand how capitalism and democracy walk, both, hand in hand with necropolitics (especially in the global south). Super recommended!
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars .It is a kind of book I have been looking a longtime now to read. Thank you!
Reviewed in Germany on May 7, 2021
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It is an in depth cross discipline analysis that continues on Franz Fanons work.It is rich, it is deep, it is comprehensive, it is enthusiastic,.It is a rare book, it reminded me of the writings of Foucault, especially in its early more fresh period..
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Doshly
4.0 out of 5 stars Useful
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 14, 2020
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Useful for my research.
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sunny41
5.0 out of 5 stars Solides Sachbuch
Reviewed in Germany on September 10, 2021
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..informativ , solide, lesbar
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