IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v14y2024i9p171-d1470879.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Theorising Pandemic Necropolitics as Evil: Thinking Inequalities, Suffering, and Vulnerabilities with Arendt

Author

Listed:
  • Anastasia Christou

    (School of Law and Social Sciences, Middlesex University, London NW4 4BT, UK)

Abstract

A conceptualisation of the COVID-19 pandemic through the analytic lens of a ‘necropolitics as evil’ brings to the fore Hannah Arendt’s theorisation that evil is both an expression of, and a threat to, humanity and its plurality as an intersectional assemblage, and by extension as freedom in political action. Arendt accepts that while evil—as an expression of our humanity—can never be eradicated, it must—as a threat to our common humanity—be confronted. From this perspective, the functioning of race, gender, and wider structural inequalities as operational hinges of COVID-19 capitalism required spaces for resistance and change within the political economy of global inequalities during the recent pandemic. This (concept) paper explores such a conceptualisation through stories of the pandemic and with a particular focus on Indigenous people, marginalised groups such as migrants and asylum seekers, as well as the homeless. It is through the viral logics of cytopathic COVID-19 capitalisms that we confront and resist theoretical pathologies by re-theorising evil as conceptual currency to confront this conjuncture, critique limitations, and meaningfully translate the current societal landscape through this lens. This allows for engaging in a particular kind of reading of Arendt that is contextualised in terms of the stakes of the paper: the importance of thinking about convivialising solidarities in the ongoing pandemic that has been perpetuated by ‘evil political formations/evil governance’ under capitalism, and as such, the structural pathologies that exacerbate COVID-19’s deathly effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Anastasia Christou, 2024. "Theorising Pandemic Necropolitics as Evil: Thinking Inequalities, Suffering, and Vulnerabilities with Arendt," Societies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-13, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:14:y:2024:i:9:p:171-:d:1470879
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/14/9/171/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/14/9/171/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anastasia Christou, 2024. "Ecofeminism and the Cultural Affinity to Genocidal Capitalism: Theorising Necropolitical Femicide in Contemporary Greece," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-12, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:14:y:2024:i:9:p:171-:d:1470879. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.