Achille Mbembe

Achille Mbembe is a Cameroonian historian, political theorist, and philosopher whose work focuses on the legacy of colonialism and empire. He is a prominent researcher based at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Developed in his 2003 essay 'Necropolitics,' the concept describes how modern sovereignty is exercised through the power to dictate who may live and who must die. He uses this framework to analyze contemporary warfare, state violence, and the spatial segregation of populations.

Mbembe's work extensively examines how colonial powers used violence, race, and bureaucracy to dominate African societies. He argues that these historical legacies continue to shape modern political structures, state violence, and global inequality.

One of his most influential translated works is 'Critique of Black Reason,' which explores the historical construction of the concept of Blackness. In it, he traces the global history of race and capitalism from the transatlantic slave trade to the modern era.