Políticas de vida e morte: a redução do valor dos corpos e aumento das precariedades no primeiro ano de pandemia

Abstract

In this essay, we recall some violent events that occurred in Brazil during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, proposing reflections that inquire into the value of bodies in Brazilian society, as well as the inequalities arising from gender hierarchies and racism. We understand that the social markers of difference gain new plots in special situations, such as the pandemic, which can aggravate precarious situations. Initially, we approach social isolation as a prominent factor in the increase cases of intrafamily violence, putting the patriarchal system in perspective and the culture of violation, in dialogue with some cases and quantitative data. Later, we discussed the violence that affects certain bodies and territories, addressing the institutionalized logic of racism, and the production of theatricalities of death, from events and their media repercussion. We elaborate an argument that articulates hierarchical violence to a notion of value, crossed by death policies. Such articulation helps us to understand how patriarchal and racist logics benefit from the pandemic context to accentuate the precariousness of certain subjects and dismiss the importance of such lives, amid a process of trivialization of death.