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In the Midst of Death We Are in Life . . . Biopolitics and Beginning Again in Rwanda

University of Ulster, UK

This article, using a framework of analysis based on Foucauldian ideas of `biopolitics' and Agamben's `completion' of that notion, together with the more focused theorizations of Mahmood Mamdani, re-visits two basic questions of the Rwandan genocide which have not been satisfactorily resolved by purely materialist analyses of the roots, dynamics and consequences of the genocide. The first is that of why so many civilians participated in the massacres, or to put the question in strong terms, `how could even the most extreme forms of indoctrination or duress have produced such an outpouring of murder by civilians against civilians?' The second relates to the acknowledged failure by the international community to prevent or stop the genocide, and might be phrased `how could so many stand idly by when so little could have prevented such untold suffering?' The effort is to examine the plausibility and value of linking together on a conceptual (biopolitical) level the `internal' questions of why a genocide in Rwanda and why in that way, with the `external' questions of why non-intervention followed by intervention in the form that it eventually arrived, using in particular Agamben's theory of the relationship between sovereignty and `bare life'.

Key Words: animality • biopolitics • genocide • humanity • Rwanda • sovereignty

References

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Social & Legal Studies, Vol. 16, No. 4, 483-508 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0964663907082732


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Mcnamee, E. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?