Understanding Biopolitics with Reference to Salman Rushdie’s Midnight Children and Mahasweta Devi’s Mother of 1084

Abstract

Biopolitics refers to the methods and techniques that are used to manage and regulate human life processes under governing regimes. Michel Foucault's work on human regulation through power creation serves as a starting point for biopolitical research. Giorgio Agamben, on the other hand, investigates the hidden and overt existence of biopolitical violence in society. Because of its extensive and clear representation of violence and rebels, Salman Rushdie's Midnight Children and Mahasweta Devi's Mother of 1084 allow scholars to participate in a critical forum on biopolitical practice. Regardless, these works are well-known for their ideals. These works exist on the periphery of literary criticism as well. This study investigates how biopolitics coerces populations within the present socio-political environment by interacting with a textual portrayal of the stories through Foucauldian and Agambenian critical perspectives. The approach suggests the possibility of a deeper understanding of biopolitical logic and resistance to its coercive strategies. It contributes to the existing corpus of literature on biopolitics by providing a specific account of life-politics as defined in postcolonial literature, as well as a supplementary perspective to the discussion on biopolitical subordination.