Intensification of Biopolitical Strategies
Governing Bodies’ Treatment of Apocalyptic Zombification in Max Brook’s World War Z
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20156006 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hossein Mohseni (0000-0003-0509-7959, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 67-83 |
| Publication date | 2021-10-02 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Literary Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0256-4718 • E-ISSN: 1753-5387 |
| Publisher | Unisa Press (PUBLISHER • ZA) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02564718.2021.1997165 |
| OpenAlex | W4200072004 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 9 |
In Max Brook’s World War Z: An Oral History of Zombie War, the zombie world introduces moments of crisis in the governing system of world powers. Although some have read these moments as being capable of shattering conventional governance systems, the present study sides with the pessimist critics who believe that even in such apocalyptic set of circumstances, governing systems would always regulate their governance through utilising biopolitical strategies. The study divides the novel’s narrative progression into pre-apocalyptic, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic phases so that governing bodies’ unique biopolitical strategies could be analysed in each phase. Through utilising Sherryl Vint’s conceptualisation on bio-politics and neo-liberalism, the study concludes that a series of militaristic, medical and economic miscalculations and stereotypes – which constitute the biopolitical phase of letting people die/making people live in the novel – regulate the governing bodies’ dominance in the pre-apocalyptic phase, while in the apocalyptic and zombie phase, spatial striation and its dependence on safe/unsafe and inside/outside binaries – that comprise the biopolitical phase of making people die/letting people live – become the survival key for the remaining governing bodies.
Biopower · Corporate governance · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spiritualism · Zombie · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · Law · Modern American Literature Studies · Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction
| Highly cited | No |
|---|