Necropolitics

In his closing chapter, Mbembe explores slavery as the perfect and horrible symbol of democracy’s inherent violence. The author considers Africa’s own struggle for self-identity in the global aftermath of American slavery and colonialism as a marker for the struggle that the entire planet faces in dismantling democracy and humanism. He compares American slavery to a type of human zoo, revealing how colonialism, racism, and capitalism create the framework for brutality and surveillance. Mbembe suggests that both reducing populations to data sets and promoting cultural histories as colonial mythologies perpetuate historical violence.

This brutality is at the heart of democracy. Mbembe critiques humanism, which emphasizes that an individual holds the inherent rights of value, agency, and dignity, arguing that humanism is a repackaged form of the discriminatory individualism of colonialism. Rejecting humanism would require global critical reflection, including an acknowledgement of the important ways in which the African Diaspora has impacted world history and culture.

In his critique, Mbembe avoids applying lenses that he feels may further perpetuate the influence of colonialism. The first is Afrocentrism, which positions Africa’s history and focuses on dismantling Western humanism. Mbembe warns against oversimplifying a complex past. The second lens he avoids is Afropessimism, which Mbembe criticizes for its lack of hope.