Dispossession CH 8-11

I was most intrigued by the concept of "counting" lives in this week's reading. Butler and Athanasiou discuss what it means for a life to matter- both in a bodily, material sense and more abstract, social sense. They also examine how systematic racism/oppression and the dispossession of individual lives factors into placing value on people's lives. Athanasiou argues that the value of a life is intrinsically political, as individuals involved in political struggles are in essence fighting for "the possibility of living (and not merely or barely surviving)" (99). The political struggles that prevail are those that people in positions of power have deemed as made up of people whose lives matter more, and are thus deserving of a higher quality of life. Butler counters this argument in addressing the issue of the "duality of number and significant" (100). When people speak about the tragedies in Gaza, how does the "value" of each life change depending on how many casualties there are? I think the duality of number and significance is a really important concept to grapple with. Large-scale casualties tend to get more focus in the media, which makes it seem as though the lives lost in these instances "count" more than individual lives lost in other effects of the war. On the flip side, when casualties are grouped together, this may discount the value of each individual life.

This chapter relates to Butler's previous writings in "Undoing." Butler introduces this chapter with asking, "who counts as the human... and whose lives count as lives... what makes for a grievable life?" (17-18). While in Disposession, Butler and Athanasiou focus on the lives of the deceased, in Undoing, Butler spends more time discussing the life of the grieving individual. Butler speaks to the idea that in the process of grieving, something about our own identity is revealed, and we change in some way. This concept made me think about how individual lives are valued based on lived experiences. Is an individual who has grieved, overcome tragedy, and gone through emotional hardships and identity transformation more "valuable" than someone who has lived an "easier" life with less self-searching and growth? Butler speaks to the value of a life in both of her pieces, and thinking about this concept in terms of both lives lost and living lives adds another dimension to her work.