Re: new participant

Dear Rana,

Ah, yes, you're right.  Perhaps culture is only part of this regime of
truth which, not only defines everything, but also produces reality.  I
wonder whether he is talking about rationality.  I guess in one of his
interviews he said that he was talking about power either in Madness and
Civilization, Discipline and Punish, or The History of Sexuality.  However,
his concept of power is so elusive.  And this creates another problem for
me in reading Foucault.

To me, reading Foucault is like doing a jigzaw puzzle without really
knowing the complete picture.  I'm trying to work this out with the limited
pieces that I have.  Or, reading Foucault is like being lost somewhere
unknown with a wrong map.:-)

Hmm...

Regards,
Edy Sukrisno


At 11:28 AM 2/7/98 -0600, you wrote:
>
>Edy,
>
>I am another new participant on the list, and I just wanted to respond to
>your post on history of sexuality.  From my understanding of it, Foucault
>is not only talking about how desire is historically determined, but also
>how institutions categorize and define sexuality in order to regulate it
>and gain and maintain power and control over individuals in society.
>To him, rationality is the framework for doing so just as with the penal
>system and insanity.  I hope this is clear,  if I'm off the mark on this,
>please let me know!
>
>Thanks
>Rana A.Emerson
>
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------
>Rana A. Emerson
>Department of Sociology
>Burdine Hall 336
>University of Texas at Austin
>remerson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx