A Reflective Note on The History of Sexuality and Necropolitics

This reflective note explores the relevance of The History of Sexuality and Necropolitics in our lives and how they deal with basic human rights. It delves into the perception of sexuality and the need to stay alive that rules our head subconsciously when we follow a certain sovereign. The article also discusses the connecting thread between the two pieces of literature and how the concept of bio-power can be considered as an ideal bridge between them.

Running Head: A REFLECTIVE NOTE ON “THE HISTORY OF SEXUALITY” AND “NECROPOLITICS”
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Running Head: A REFLECTIVE NOTE ON “THE HISTORY OF SEXUALITY” AND “NECROPOLITICS”
Introduction
We are living in a democratic world where we can practice a life of our choice in terms of
religion, profession, and sexual orientation. As a statement it takes us into a utopian universe,
however, put a question mark on this statement and you will find that all of a sudden the
pieces of the literature like "Necropolitics” and “The history of sexuality" has a great
relevance in our life because they deal with a basic right of every human being, this right is
“right to live (Marina Gržinić, 2014).”
Religion, culture, sexuality (desires and orientations) together constitute a maze called life
where we search for happiness and peace. The books of the history and legal history give us
an impression that most of the wars were fought to gain an economic imperialism. They tell
us that the concept of the might right prevails during these wars. However, both the above-
mentioned literature present a different picture, a picture where the authors read between the
lines and came up with an ethnographic cultural account of the life of the people. However,
this cultural account was forced upon them with an intention to tame them for the interests of
the sovereigns (Jin Haritaworn, 2014).
The history of Sexuality is all about the perception of sexuality
Sexuality is a pleasurable yet taboo subject for the western world, author Michael Foucault
presented a chronological order of the mindset of the people where he raised certain poignant
questions connected to the definitions of the social perception of the sex (Scott Spector,
2014). This book is an eye-opener in many ways on a surface it seems that it is talking about
the liberalization of the society where people are learning to live with their carnal desires and
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Running Head: A REFLECTIVE NOTE ON “THE HISTORY OF SEXUALITY” AND “NECROPOLITICS”
becoming more expressive about them (Foucault, 1978). However, an in-depth study of this
book gave me an idea that sovereigns do have a control over the sexuality of the individuals.
The last chapter of this book presents an account that how sovereigns promote sexuality in a
civil society under various ethnicities because they want the fruits of sex (kids) to herald the
flags of the sovereign in the next generation.
The biggest example in the support of his argument tells us that “sex is designed for the
body” it should be read under the title of the “history of the bodies.” However, our societies
read it under the chapter of “history of sexual mentalities (Francisco Ferrandiz, 2015).” The
most important part of the deal is the fact that sovereigns throws this mentality on us and
force us to follow in accordance with that.
The writer of the book The Cunning of Recognition: Indigenous Alterities and the
Making of Australian Multiculturalism (Politics, History, and Culture), explains the
same thought with a different perspective while taking the evolution of the
multiculturalism in Australia. This book gives us an idea about the changing
perceptions of the society, how it changes in accordance with the wishes of the
sovergine. In the case of Australia, the same freedom of thought and practicing a life
of a pleasure helped them in forming a strong and fearless nation (Ponivelli, 2000).
It is the need to stay alive that rules our head subconsciously when we follow a certain
sovereign
Necropolitics talks about an artificial threat that challenges our right to live peacefully in this
world. Read some of the examples, closed my eyes thought about them and the word that
came in my mind was tactics to create a perception that sovereign is guarding my right to live
in this world. Many examples are there, sovereigns creating artificial threats to establish their
rule over the brains of the people is primary among them. This piece of literature makes me
thought about my protector in a different way (Schwab, 2012).
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Running Head: A REFLECTIVE NOTE ON “THE HISTORY OF SEXUALITY” AND “NECROPOLITICS”
Your protector may be a person catering to the threat of life that you are facing. In return,
your protector is also posing a threat for some other person living in another sovereign. It
might sound like a conspiracy theory however why we can't think about a secret golden shake
hand between the powers that are ruling on the merit that they are protecting us. This article
gave me a new viewpoint (Mbembe, 2018). Now I have many questions running in my mind
related to various other historical events that took place. Can we see them from a different
viewpoint?
The connecting thread between the two pieces of the literature
The last chapter of this book “Right to death and power of life" can be the connecting
thread between the two kinds of literature, the concept of the bio-power can be considered as
an ideal bridge between them. Sovereigns want to consume the power of life in their favor
and for this, they use the fear of death as the binding factor. The accounts of the Necropolitics
tell us that sovereigns treat us like subjects (Patterson, 1985). They make moves to
manipulate the population with the help of bio-power. Elements of the class and race act as a
catalyst in the implementation of the bio-power inflicted by the sovereigns on the masses, my
personal observation in this topic says that the concept of the bio-power and the intentions of
the sovereigns exists in a democratic world as well. Ruling parties and opposition parties in a
democracy also represent a class. They never allow certain norms to break down and
giveaway a free flow of the power to the common masses.
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Running Head: A REFLECTIVE NOTE ON “THE HISTORY OF SEXUALITY” AND “NECROPOLITICS”
Bibliography
Foucault, M. (1978). The history of Sexuality . New York : Pantheon Books .
Francisco Ferrandiz, A. C. (2015). Necropolitics: Mass Graves and Exhumations in the Age of Human
Rights. Pennsylvania : Pennsylvenia Press .
Jin Haritaworn, A. K. (2014). Queer Necropolitics. Abingdon : Routledge .
Marina Gržinić, Š. T. (2014). Necropolitics, Racialization, and Global Capitalism. Lexington : Lexington
Books .
Mbembe, A. (2018). Necropolitics. Public Culture Duke Press , https://read.dukeupress.edu/public-
culture/article/15/1/11/31714/Necropolitics.
Patterson, O. (1985). Slavery and Social Death. Harvard : Harvard University Press .
Ponivelli, E. (2000). The Cunning of Recognition: Indigenous Alterities and the Making of Australian
Multiculturalism (Politics, History, and Culture) . Durham : Duke Universtity Press .
Schwab, G. (2012). Imaginary Ethnographies: Literature, Culture, and Subjectivity. Columbia :
Columbia University Press .
Scott Spector, H. P. (2014). After <i>The History of Sexuality</i>: German Genealogies with and
Beyond Foucault. New York City : Berghahn Books .
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