Queer Necropolitics and Vitalism: Life, Death, and Power Structures

Abstract (English)

On day one of his presidency, President Donald Trump made good on his pledge to "stop the transgender lunacy" and signed executive orders to end “child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our… schools". The ripple effects across various countries were felt such as fresh demands over ban on transgender athletes in the UK by Sharon Davies (Pearce, 2025), closure of trans clinics in Johannesburg, South Africa (Chabalala, 2025) and various locations in India (Themisfyt, 2025).
Drawing on Achille Mbembe’s concept of "necropolitics," Queer Necropolitics examines how power structures determine which queer and trans lives are marked for death and which are deemed worthy of life-affirming benefits (Haritaworn et al., 2014). Violence against queer people, whether through individual acts or structural mechanisms, is rooted in colonial histories and hetero-patriarchal discourse. These histories shape contemporary moral panics, seen in the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ policies.
However, vulnerability is not evenly distributed. As Jasbir Puar (2007) argues in their theorisation of homonationalism, some queer subjects—often white, cisgender, and aligned with nationalist discourses—are granted conditional inclusion, while others, particularly queer and trans people of color in the Global North and queer people in the Global South, are disproportionately marked for death. Transnationally, the policing of queer bodies is shaped by geopolitical hierarchies. LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, for example, may flee persecution only to encounter the compounded effects of queerphobia, racialisation, and border violence in host countries that, despite constitutional protections, continue to marginalise them.
The necropolitical governance of queer and trans life extends beyond overt violence to subtler forms of erasure and misidentification, which impact access to healthcare, legal recognition, and social belonging. Trans individuals, in particular, face systemic barriers to social and medical transition, often exacerbated by poverty and restricted rights. The cumulative impact of these policies correlates with higher rates of mental health crises and suicide within queer communities. Understanding queer necropolitics through a transnational lens reveals how regimes of violence and exclusion operate across borders, shaping the conditions of survival for queer and trans people globally.
Equally, using vitalism through Deleuze and Guattari (1987), we seek papers that explore transformative potential within existing structures rather than merely resisting imposed norms. Queer Vitalism emphasises potentiality i.e., not just what exists but what can become (Colebrook, 2010). Vitality extends beyond the living to include virtual life, the emergent and the yet-to-be. Informed by desiring-production and rhizomatic relationality, Queer Vitalism sees queerness as a generative force, creating new modes of existence. We invite papers that examine queer potentiality across affect, embodiment, and speculative futurisms, emphasising queerness not just as survival, but as an expansive force for life and transformation.