Necropolitics And Modernity: Unveiling The ‘Empire’s Dirty Work’ In Heart Of Darkness, A Passage To India And Burmese Days
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Date
2024
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Ankara Üniversitesi
Abstract
This article examines the complex interplay between modernity, colonialism, and
necropolitics as represented in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, A Passage to India
by E.M. Forster, and Burmese Days by George Orwell. These modernist texts not only
critique the dehumanization and systemic extermination justied by colonial ideologies
but also highlight the ways in which colonial power uses necropolitical strategies to govern
life and death. By integrating Achille Mbembe's concept of necropolitics with Michel
Foucault's theory of biopower, this analysis elucidates the racial and sovereign dynamics
that both underpin and challenge colonial regimes. The paper contextualizes the
relationship between modernism and colonial history, highlighting how modernist
narratives reect a crisis in the colonial agenda and embody Enlightenment ideals that
have shaped the socio-political landscape of empires. These narratives offer a critical view
of the dichotomy between the colonizer and the colonized, emphasizing the fractured and
uncertain epistemological underpinnings of imperial logic. The examination of Conrad,
Forster, and Orwell focuses on the ethical and psychological turmoil from colonial
dominance, probing how colonialism justies violence and subjugation. The study reveals
how colonial powers exert necropolitical control, deciding who lives and who dies—a
control that extends beyond physical dominance to the psychological colonization of
minds, perpetuating colonial hegemony. Ultimately, this paper shows how modernist texts
critique colonial necropolitics and expose the racial prejudices and biopolitical strategies
essential for maintaining colonial regimes. These texts provide profound insights into the
lasting impacts of colonialism on contemporary understandings of race, sovereignty, and
resistance
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Keywords
Biopower, Colonial Ideologies, Dehumanization, Necropolitics, Systematic Extermination