LIFE MANAGEMENT AND BIOPOLITICS IN THE WEFT AND WOOF OF COVID-19 IN BRAZIL

Abstract

Social isolation, border closure, quarantine and population surveillance through technological devices were some of the measures taken by different governments with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Based on this consideration, the present article reflects on the covid-19 pandemic through a reading the concept of biopolitics in the work of Michel Foucault. Through bibliographic review and document analysis, we seek to empirically verify the approximation of the referred concept in order to reflect on governmental action in Brazil, through federal government decrees regarding the pandemic. As a result, it was possible to observe a series of devices linked to the control and surveillance of bodies institutionalized by medical knowledge and power, which are linked to socio-spatial and biological control over life. Beyond this attention has been drawn to the way biopolitics has been practiced. Empirical evidence has shown that letting die has been one of Bolsonaro's approaches in managing the health crisis with the aim of prioritizing an immediate return to economic activities.