Marked for Erasure : Necropolitics, Gender and the Spectacle of Violence

Violence is never just an act; it is a spectacle, a mechanism of power, and a tool of erasure. As authoritarianism, ethnonationalism, and systemic racism intensify, the question becomes whose suffering is made visible and whose is ignored. At the intersections of gender, race, and media, these dynamics reveal that violence is structured, sustained, and legitimised by the narratives surrounding it. Marked for Erasure offers a critical examination of how mediatisation, ethnonationalism, and necropolitical regimes intersect to determine which bodies are marked for violence or erasure. Drawing from political theory, gender studies, and media analysis, this book exposes the ways in which marginalised communities are subjected to systemic violence that is both physical and epistemic. Author Meghna Prabir interrogates how media spectacles sensationalise suffering while obscuring the structural forces behind it, creating an economy of grief that decides which lives matter. Prabir's work highlights acts of resistance, showing how activists and artists reclaim visibility and forge spaces of survival against regimes of disposability. By taking a transnational perspective, Marked for Erasure not only reveals patterns of oppression across different geopolitical contexts but also amplifies the counter-narratives that disrupt them. Engaging with this work means tackling urgent questions about power, media, and the politics of life and death. Essential for scholars, activists, and justice advocates, it provides a crucial intervention in the global conversation on violence, visibility, and resistance.