The Living from the Dead: Disaffirming Biopolitics

Stuart J. Murray's book "The Living from the Dead" explores the ethical responsibility of complicity in sacrificial economies that produce and tolerate death as a necessity of life. He argues that biopower can only be fully exposed through an analysis of those whom society has "let die," using a series of transdisciplinary case studies to uncover the structural and rhetorical conditions through which biopower works. These case studies include the concept of "sacrifice" in the "war" against COVID-19, the California mass hunger strikes of 2013, legal cases involving "preventable" and "untimely" childhood deaths, and the videorecording of the death of a disabled Black man. Murray demonstrates that active resistance to biopower inevitably reproduces tropes of "making live" and "letting die," but his counter to this fact is a critical stance of disaffirmation, one in which death disrupts the politics of life itself.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 218 pages
Publication date: 20 September 2022
Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press

In a society that prioritizes the protection of life above all else, how do we navigate the ethical implications of being complicit in sacrificial economies that produce and tolerate death as a necessary aspect of existence? Stuart J. Murray argues that a comprehensive understanding of biopower can only be achieved by examining the individuals society has "let die." Through a series of transdisciplinary case studies, Murray uncovers the structural and rhetorical conditions through which biopower operates. These case studies encompass various aspects of society, including the concept of "sacrifice" in the "war" against COVID-19, where emergent cultures of pandemic "resistance" are explored alongside suicide bombings and military suicides. Additionally, Murray examines the California mass hunger strikes of 2013, legal cases involving "preventable" and "untimely" childhood deaths, and the videorecording of the death of a disabled Black man. By demonstrating that active resistance to biopower inevitably reproduces tropes of "making live" and "letting die," Murray offers a critical stance of disaffirmation. This stance challenges the notion that death is merely a natural consequence of life and instead suggests that it disrupts the very politics of life itself.

The Living from the Dead is a philosophically nuanced critique of biopower that delves into profound questions about life, death, power, language, and control in the twenty-first century. This book will appeal to students and scholars of rhetoric, philosophy, and critical theory, offering a thought-provoking exploration of these complex issues.

Weight: 340g
Dimension: 229 x 152 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780271093406