Abstract

This article analyzes the implementation of necropolitics and biopolitics in Ayacucho, Peru, and how these have been used to reproduce inequalities and suffering through state violence. Through a case study on forced sterilizations in the 1990s, it explores how the control of life and death became a tool to subjugate vulnerable populations, primarily indigenous and rural women. It also highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing inequalities, revealing the structural fragility and neglect in which a large part of the population lives.

Keywords

necropolitics, forced sterilizations, indigenous women, covid-19 pandemic, marginalization, gender and ethnicity, colonialism.