Articles | Volume 81, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-123-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-81-123-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
The productivity of necropolitics
Institute for Human Geography, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt a. M., Germany
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Short summary
This analysis addresses the question of the role of violence in maximizing capitalist profits in Latin America. It reveals that violence is not a consequence of personal brutality but rather a structural component of a very specific form of labour. The labour carried out through violence, and the human bodies that endure it, form a mode of production that is more similar to what we are familiar with than we usually realize. Nonetheless, even here, resistance is possible.
This analysis addresses the question of the role of violence in maximizing capitalist profits in...