Theorizing Necropolitics in Social Studies Education
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| Title: | Theorizing Necropolitics in Social Studies Education |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Varga, Bretton A. (ORCID |
| Source: | Theory and Research in Social Education. 2023 51(1):47-71. |
| Availability: | Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 25 |
| Publication Date: | 2023 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Descriptive |
| Descriptors: | Social Studies, History Instruction, Death, Violence, War, Racial Segregation, Power Structure, Intersectionality, Human Body, Social Justice, Race, Political Power, Political Affiliation, Curriculum |
| DOI: | 10.1080/00933104.2022.2129536 |
| ISSN: | 0093-3104 2163-1654 |
| Abstract: | This article engages with three commonly traversed social studies topics--depictions of violence and death from the French Revolution, during the Vietnam War, and regarding U.S. histories of racial segregation--through the lens of Achille Mbembe's "necropolitics" (i.e., political and social machinations of power that determine who lives and who dies). In particular, this article theorizes how specific necropolitical concepts (e.g., "necropower," "the living dead," and "slow death") can be a generative and powerful form of analysis for social studies educators and their students that exposes intersecting complexities between life, death, political alliance, and power. While this article argues that social studies curriculum is replete with undertheorized moments of death and underutilized opportunities to engage with death, this scholarship is guided by the questions: "What place is given to life, death, and the human body (in particular the wounded or slain body)? How are they inscribed in the order of power?" The overall aim of a necropolitical engagement is to foster a deeper understanding of why/how death continues to disproportionately come into being again and again for specific, targeted peoples. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2023 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1385507 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | This article engages with three commonly traversed social studies topics--depictions of violence and death from the French Revolution, during the Vietnam War, and regarding U.S. histories of racial segregation--through the lens of Achille Mbembe's "necropolitics" (i.e., political and social machinations of power that determine who lives and who dies). In particular, this article theorizes how specific necropolitical concepts (e.g., "necropower," "the living dead," and "slow death") can be a generative and powerful form of analysis for social studies educators and their students that exposes intersecting complexities between life, death, political alliance, and power. While this article argues that social studies curriculum is replete with undertheorized moments of death and underutilized opportunities to engage with death, this scholarship is guided by the questions: "What place is given to life, death, and the human body (in particular the wounded or slain body)? How are they inscribed in the order of power?" The overall aim of a necropolitical engagement is to foster a deeper understanding of why/how death continues to disproportionately come into being again and again for specific, targeted peoples. |
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| ISSN: | 0093-3104 2163-1654 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/00933104.2022.2129536 |
