Theorizing Necroptics: Invisibilization of Violence and Death-Worlds

Internal Seminar for Researchers

Research Area: Management: Marketing

Abstract: This research examines the invisibilization of violence and deaths in India’s leading daily during the 1918 influenza pandemic, the Times of India. The pandemic killed more than 14 million Indians in a short span of time. Studying this historical event and the way it was reported in an influential newspaper, this research shows how media representations not only invisibilized the alarming levels of mortality, but also elided the efforts of colonial capitalism to profit from the loss of human life. Building on the work of Achille Mbembe, this study examines the invisibility of violence through the concept of necroptics. It shows how colonial violence was erased through media necroptics that created untraceable deaths, that is, framed deaths as natural.

About the Speaker: Rohit Varman is a Professor at Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham. His current inter-disciplinary research focuses on corporate violence, exploitation, modern slavery, and resistance to corporatization and marketization. He has published his research in several top outlets that include Journal of Consumer Research, Organization Science, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Service Research, and Human Relations.