2024, Vol. 6, Issue 3, Part A

Author(s): Nilesh Pant

Abstract: This article examines the politics of health during the COVID-19 pandemic through a comparative content analysis of theoretical frameworks by Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, and commentators such as Leena Abraham and Avantika Tewari. Drawing on Foucaults biopolitics, Agambens theory of sovereignty and bare life, and Marxist-inflected critiques of capitalist health governance, the paper elucidates multiple dimensions of pandemic control, discipline, and resistance. The methodology combines theoretical analysis and targeted literature review, focusing on policy documents and ethnographic accounts from India. The discussion highlights points of convergence and divergence between the frameworks, revealing how the pandemic exposed inequalities, reconfigured sovereign power, and produced new sites of both domination and collective agency. The article ultimately argues for a nuanced, interdisciplinary approach to health politics that integrates questions of power, sovereignty, and class struggle in understanding crisis governance and public health.

DOI: 10.33545/27068919.2024.v6.i3a.1751

Pages: 67-69 | Views: 212 | Downloads: 126

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