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‘WAR AS REMEDY OR POISON’: READING THE BLIND MAN'S GARDEN AND THE KITE RUNNER WITH A CRITICAL LENS OF MBEMBE’S NECROPOLITICS
Corresponding Author(s) : Humaira Riaz
Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews,
Vol. 9 No. 3 (2021): May
Abstract
Purpose of the Study: This study emphasizes the contribution of fiction in highlighting the American exercise of power around the world predominantly Pakistan and Afghanistan. It investigates how America has become a dictating body deciding the life and death of human beings mainly in South Asian developing countries.
Methodology: Being Qualitative, this study uses Eaglestone’s (2000) close reading technique to analyze words and structure of the texts of Khalid Hosseini's The Kite Runner and Nadeem Aslam Khan’s The Blind Man’s Garden. It develops a descriptive thesis leading to construct arguments by drawing a theoretical framework from Mbembe’s necropolitics (2003). Mbembe took his inspiration from Foucault’s idea of bio-power. Modern narrative discourse on sovereignty and its relation to war is taken as the main subject of necropolitics. Mbembe’s idea of sovereignty as an exercise to get control of the mortality of the enemy helps to interpret the texts via the close reading method.
Main Findings: This study evaluated two novels to assert that necropolitics by taking its four basic concepts, power, war, politics, and death was the actual controlling power of a country. It analyzed fictional characters to argue how individuals endured hardships because of the necropolitical exercise of America and Russia in Afghanistan. Mbembe’s conception of necropolitics helps in understanding fiction.
Applications of this study: The present study has significant implications from both theoretical and interpretative perspectives. Necropolitics, originally a political notion is reworked in fiction, which asserts that using this concept, power relations, their roots, and exercise around the world can be explored in various fields. This study contributes to dismantling the latent necropolitics in the society represented in fiction. It elevates the social and political consciousness of the general public of South Asia, particularly Pakistan and Afghanistan. This study can be helpful in the field of psychology to popularize the notion of necropolitics in contemporary society.
Novelty/Originality of this study: Comparatively a new field, Necropolitics has been discussed in the fields of medical sciences and education. This study significantly highlights its existence in the field of literary studies. Fiction as a direct reflection of society helps in deconstructing the prevailing exercise of necropolitics in South Asian society. It is also helpful in raising the social and political consciousness of South Asian people.
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- Ahmetbeyzade, C. (2008, September 16). Gendering Necropolitics: The Juridical-Political Sociality of Honor Killings in Turkey. Journal of Human Rights, 7(3), 187-206. https://doi.org/10.1080/14754830802286095 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14754830802286095
- Allinson, J. (2015). The Necropolitics of Drones. International Political Sociology, 9(2), 113-127. https://doi.org/10.1111/ips.12086 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ips.12086
- Avila, E. A. (2012). Conditions of (Im)possibility: Necropolitics, Neoliberalism, and the Cultural Politics of Death in Contemporary Chicana/o Film and Literature. University of California, San Diego.
- Aslam, N. (2013). The Blind Man's Garden. London: Faber & Faber.
- Balan, S. (2010). M. Foucault’s View on Power Relations. Cogito. Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 2, 55-61.
- Bednar, R. (2013). Killing Memory: Roadside Memorial Removals and the Necropolitics of Affect. Cultural Politics, 9, 337-356. https://doi.org/10.1215/17432197-2347018 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/17432197-2347018
- Braidotti, R., Colebrook, C., Hanafin, P. (2009). Deleuze and Law Forensic Futures. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230244771 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230244771
- Bui, L. (2016). A Better Life? Asian Americans and the Necropolitics of Higher Education. In Critical Ethnic Studies: A Reader (pp. 161-174). Duke Univerity Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11hpkv8.11 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11hpkv8.11
- Charkiewicz, E. (2009). A feminist critique of the climate change discourse. From Biopolitics to Necropolitics. Critical Current , 6, 18-25.
- Christodoulou, M. (2017, january 12). To be dead is an unthinkable Anomaly: Reversed Necropolitics and the Death Imaginary. Sguardo - Rivista di Filosofia, 23, 127-137.
- Durant, S. (2018). Creaturely Mimesis: Life After Necropolitics in Chris Abani’s Song for Night. Research in African Literatures: Performances of Sovereignty in African Dictator-Fiction, 49, 178-206. https://doi.org/10 .2979/reseafrilite.49.3.11 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2979/reseafrilite.49.3.11
- Eaglestone, R. (2013). Contemporary Fiction in the Academy: Towards a Manifesto. Textual Practice, 7(27), 1096. https://doi.org/10.1080/0950236X.2013.840113 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0950236X.2013.840113
- Emerson, R. G. (2019). Necropolitics: Living Death in Mexico. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12302-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12302-4
- Fanon, F. (1961). The Wretched on the Earth. (C. Farrington, Trans.) Paris, France: Grove Weidenfeld.
- Feltham, B. (2019). War, Peace and International Ethics. School of Politics and International Relation , 6.
- Flacks, S. (2018). Law, necropolitics and the stop and search of young people. Theoretical Criminology, 24(2), 387-405. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480618774036 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480618774036
- Foucault, M. (1991). The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality. (G. Burchell, C. Gordon, & P. Miller, Eds.) Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
- Grzinic, M. (2012, September). Biopolitics and Necropolitics in relation to the Lacanian four discourses. Simposium Art and Research: Shared methodologies. Politics and Translation, 6-7.
- Hosseini, K. (2003). The Kite Runner. London: Bloomsbury.
- Jackson, M., & Morelli, M. (2011). The Reasons for Wars – an Updated Survey. In R. L. Chirstopher J. Coyne (Ed.), The Handbook on the Political Economy of War (p. 34). Department of Economics, Stanford University, California: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited .
- Kwate, A., & Threadcraft, S. (2018, April 20). Dying Fast And Dying Slow In Black Space: Stop and Frisk’s Public Health Threat and a Comprehensive Necropolitics. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 12(2), 535-556. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X17000169 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X17000169
- Lazzarato, M. (2002). From Biopower to Biopolitics. Pli: The Warwick Journal of Philosophy, 13, 112-125.
- Lirios, C. G. (2019). Specification A Model For Study Of Biopolitics. Journal of Social Studies, 21(43), 128-135. https://doi.org/10.19093/res9461 DOI: https://doi.org/10.19093/res9461
- Leshem, N. (2015). “Over our dead bodiesâ€: Placing Necropolitical Activism. Political Geography, 45, 34-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2014.09.003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2014.09.003
- Mbembé, J. (2003). Necropolitics. Public Culture, 15, 11-40. https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-15-1-11 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-15-1-11
- Margulies, J. D. (2019). Making the ‘man-eater’: Tiger conservation as necropolitics. Political Geography, 69, 150-161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2018.12.011 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2018.12.011
- Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1994). Competing Paradigms in Qualitative Research. In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 105-117). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
- Mayblin, M. W. (2019). Necropolitics and the Slow Violence of the Everyday: Asylum Seeker Welfare in the Post Colonial Present. Sociology, 54(1), 107-123. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038519862124 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038519862124
- Salih, A., Kraidy, M. (2020). Islamic State and Women: A Biopolitical Analysis. International Journal of Communication, 1933–1950.
- Sartori, G. (1973). What is “Politicsâ€. Political Theory , 1(1), 5-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/009059177 300100102 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/009059177300100102
- Sorensen, N. N. (2020). Governing through the mutilated female body : corpse, bodypolitics and contestation in contemporary Guatemala. In F. Stepputat (Ed.), Governing the Dead: Sovereignty and the Politics of Dead Bodies (pp. 11-221). Manchester University Press.
References
Ahmetbeyzade, C. (2008, September 16). Gendering Necropolitics: The Juridical-Political Sociality of Honor Killings in Turkey. Journal of Human Rights, 7(3), 187-206. https://doi.org/10.1080/14754830802286095 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14754830802286095
Allinson, J. (2015). The Necropolitics of Drones. International Political Sociology, 9(2), 113-127. https://doi.org/10.1111/ips.12086 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ips.12086
Avila, E. A. (2012). Conditions of (Im)possibility: Necropolitics, Neoliberalism, and the Cultural Politics of Death in Contemporary Chicana/o Film and Literature. University of California, San Diego.
Aslam, N. (2013). The Blind Man's Garden. London: Faber & Faber.
Balan, S. (2010). M. Foucault’s View on Power Relations. Cogito. Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 2, 55-61.
Bednar, R. (2013). Killing Memory: Roadside Memorial Removals and the Necropolitics of Affect. Cultural Politics, 9, 337-356. https://doi.org/10.1215/17432197-2347018 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/17432197-2347018
Braidotti, R., Colebrook, C., Hanafin, P. (2009). Deleuze and Law Forensic Futures. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230244771 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230244771
Bui, L. (2016). A Better Life? Asian Americans and the Necropolitics of Higher Education. In Critical Ethnic Studies: A Reader (pp. 161-174). Duke Univerity Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11hpkv8.11 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11hpkv8.11
Charkiewicz, E. (2009). A feminist critique of the climate change discourse. From Biopolitics to Necropolitics. Critical Current , 6, 18-25.
Christodoulou, M. (2017, january 12). To be dead is an unthinkable Anomaly: Reversed Necropolitics and the Death Imaginary. Sguardo - Rivista di Filosofia, 23, 127-137.
Durant, S. (2018). Creaturely Mimesis: Life After Necropolitics in Chris Abani’s Song for Night. Research in African Literatures: Performances of Sovereignty in African Dictator-Fiction, 49, 178-206. https://doi.org/10 .2979/reseafrilite.49.3.11 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2979/reseafrilite.49.3.11
Eaglestone, R. (2013). Contemporary Fiction in the Academy: Towards a Manifesto. Textual Practice, 7(27), 1096. https://doi.org/10.1080/0950236X.2013.840113 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0950236X.2013.840113
Emerson, R. G. (2019). Necropolitics: Living Death in Mexico. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12302-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12302-4
Fanon, F. (1961). The Wretched on the Earth. (C. Farrington, Trans.) Paris, France: Grove Weidenfeld.
Feltham, B. (2019). War, Peace and International Ethics. School of Politics and International Relation , 6.
Flacks, S. (2018). Law, necropolitics and the stop and search of young people. Theoretical Criminology, 24(2), 387-405. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480618774036 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480618774036
Foucault, M. (1991). The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality. (G. Burchell, C. Gordon, & P. Miller, Eds.) Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Grzinic, M. (2012, September). Biopolitics and Necropolitics in relation to the Lacanian four discourses. Simposium Art and Research: Shared methodologies. Politics and Translation, 6-7.
Hosseini, K. (2003). The Kite Runner. London: Bloomsbury.
Jackson, M., & Morelli, M. (2011). The Reasons for Wars – an Updated Survey. In R. L. Chirstopher J. Coyne (Ed.), The Handbook on the Political Economy of War (p. 34). Department of Economics, Stanford University, California: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited .
Kwate, A., & Threadcraft, S. (2018, April 20). Dying Fast And Dying Slow In Black Space: Stop and Frisk’s Public Health Threat and a Comprehensive Necropolitics. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 12(2), 535-556. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X17000169 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X17000169
Lazzarato, M. (2002). From Biopower to Biopolitics. Pli: The Warwick Journal of Philosophy, 13, 112-125.
Lirios, C. G. (2019). Specification A Model For Study Of Biopolitics. Journal of Social Studies, 21(43), 128-135. https://doi.org/10.19093/res9461 DOI: https://doi.org/10.19093/res9461
Leshem, N. (2015). “Over our dead bodiesâ€: Placing Necropolitical Activism. Political Geography, 45, 34-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2014.09.003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2014.09.003
Mbembé, J. (2003). Necropolitics. Public Culture, 15, 11-40. https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-15-1-11 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-15-1-11
Margulies, J. D. (2019). Making the ‘man-eater’: Tiger conservation as necropolitics. Political Geography, 69, 150-161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2018.12.011 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2018.12.011
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1994). Competing Paradigms in Qualitative Research. In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 105-117). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Mayblin, M. W. (2019). Necropolitics and the Slow Violence of the Everyday: Asylum Seeker Welfare in the Post Colonial Present. Sociology, 54(1), 107-123. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038519862124 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038519862124
Salih, A., Kraidy, M. (2020). Islamic State and Women: A Biopolitical Analysis. International Journal of Communication, 1933–1950.
Sartori, G. (1973). What is “Politicsâ€. Political Theory , 1(1), 5-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/009059177 300100102 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/009059177300100102
Sorensen, N. N. (2020). Governing through the mutilated female body : corpse, bodypolitics and contestation in contemporary Guatemala. In F. Stepputat (Ed.), Governing the Dead: Sovereignty and the Politics of Dead Bodies (pp. 11-221). Manchester University Press.