Population geography III: Precarity, dead peasants, and truncated life

Mortality has figured prominently in the field of population geography; death, conversely, has received minimal attention. This has important implications given that mortality directs attention primarily to populations whereas death focuses attention toward individual bodies. In this progress report, I situate the geographic study of mortality within ongoing theorizations of precarity and precariousness. Drawing on Marxist ideas of labor-capacity and social reproduction, I reflect also on the idea of shared mortality'. This is followed by a discussion of dead peasants' insurance. In so doing I forge a bridge between population geography and the emergent sub-field of biofinancialization. I conclude with a distinction between premature death' and truncated life'.