Necropolitics in Leite do peito, by Geni Guimarães

a childhood-becoming in infra-live

Abstract

This article analyzes, in short stories from Leite do Peito (2001), by Geni Guimarães, aspects of the protagonist’s living conditions. To this end, it starts from a concept of biopower in accordance with the premises of Michel Foucault (2005) supplemented by Achille Mbembe (2014, 2018a, 2018b), specifically, with the notion of infra-life, advocated by the latter, designating a system of denials of basic subsistence needs rights, in the context of necropolitics. Methodologically, from an intersectional approach, from Patrícia Hill Collins (2019) and Sirma Bilge and Patricia Hill Collins (2021), especially regarding the variables race, class, and gender, it explores life situations concerning the childhood-becoming of the protagonist in the short stories “Fim dos meus natais de macarronadas” and “Santa Ceia”, by Geni Guimarães. As partial results, a relationship is proposed between the pains that afflict the character’s subjective notions and the psychic affects suffered in the arid environment in which she lives with her family, in a context of debasement of immunities such as education, health, leisure and childhood itself.