Necrofraternity: A Utopia of Mourning Community for an Epoch of Cadavers

Abstract

This article proposes the concept of necrofraternity as a philosophical-forensic category for analyzing extreme violence and the mass proliferation of cadavers in contemporary times. Its central aim is to critically examine the communal bonds between the living and the dead from a necrohumanist perspective, one that emphasizes the agency of desecrated cadavers as active (f)actors in socio-spatial transformation. The methodology is theoretical and critical, grounded in interdisciplinary analysis that brings together philosophy, social theory, violence and death studies. The findings underscore that cadavers, against the grain of tradition, are not inert remnants; rather, they intervene decisively in shaping the affective and material configurations of the shared world. In conclusion, it is argued that necrofraternity redefines the traditional notion of fraternity by including the dead within an afflicted community, thereby opening possibilities for imagining new forms of justice, collective responsibility, and critical memory in contexts marked by extreme violence, enforced disappearance, and radical dispossession.