Waitaminute waitaminute waitaminute. This person asked us a simple
question and we are giving him these tremendously heady answers. My
understanding, Rich, is that you wanted to now where Foucault's interest
came from either biographically or (it's related) in relation to what in
my field (theology, more specifically feminist liberation theology and
related liberation theologies influenced by what we call "social
analysis") we call "social location." (more below)
RTC> I am a fourth year student with a question about Foucault. I am
RTC>trying to come to a conclusion as to why Foucault was so interested in
RTC>power. Can anybody out there help me out? I am just beginning to see how
RTC>magical his works are but am having trouble with the origins of his
RTC>interest surrounding this topic.
RTC> Thank you, Rich Clark
3/14/96
You asked *why* Foucault was so interested in power. [Not __what__
his theory/concept of power was.] I'm still a Foucault novice, but I
would hazard that his social location had something to do with it -- i.e.
1) being a gay man; 2) being taken to a shrink by his father as a young
man to "deal with it" ; 3) living through World War II as a teen-ager
and seeing the uses and abuses of power there; 4) experiencing France's
particular mix of intellectual headiness (I grew up there, I know
whereof I speak) with much focus on language and intellect, on the one
hand, and use of power in various realms (political, intellectual,
linguistic, academic, sexual, police, military, religious,
governmental, etc.) on the other; 5) with much of the French left,
experiencing attachment to, then disillusionment with, the Communist
party; 6) living in various parts of Europe in the 50s and 60s and then
in Tunisia in, I think, the 1960s, (with his partner and lover) and
seeing first-hand the emergence from colonialism and the power struggles
there.
Does that give you a context for his thought?
One of the contributions of the various liberation theology movements
(heavily influenced by the social sciences by the way) to the whole of
theology, and probably to other disciplines as well, is the proposition
that all theologies, and all theologians, have a social location. All
theologies are contextual -- not only the more overt "advocacy
theologies" e.g. Black theology, feminist theology, and the
liberation theologies of the Two-Thirds World, but even and especially
the theologies that pretend to be normative, generic, "universal."
All have an agenda to defend. In the same way, I think, all philosophies
and philosophers, all thinkers, must be understood in their social
location. Foucault would not disagree I think. At any rate, whether he
woudl or not, placing him in his historical, social, and biographical
location and studying his thought with a knowledge of "where he sat,"
can help us to understand "where he stood" or "where he stands." All of
us are influenced by our social class, our race, our gender, our family
history, our sexual orientation, our culture, and so on, whether we wish
to admit it or not. Honest scholarship simply lifts that up and
examines it.
Rich, does that help? Everyone, don't you think it is impossible
to teach "history of ideas" in a disincarnated, unenfleshed way? Ideas
and those who hatch them live in history, in their bodies, and in
relationships. They don't live in a transparent theoretical stream --
much as some would like to pretend they do.
Okay, back to getting started on __The Order of Things__ . By the way,
quelqu'un a-t-il une version francaise de trop? (Alexandre?) C'a
m'enerve un peu de lire ca seulement en anglais et j'aimerais bien
lire les deux versions. Je suis a la recherche d'une edition
francaise de __Les Mots et les Choses__ mais pour le moment je n'en
trouve pas un exemplaire. (That means I would love a French text of
__Les Mots et les Choses__ and does anyone know where I can get a hold
of one, or have an extra one? Meanwhile I'll keep phoning all over
Berkeley -- there must be one somewhere.) Merci!
Jane Redmont
Graduate Theological Union (GTU)
Berkeley, California
RTC>----------------------------------------------------------------------
RTC>Richard Clark RTC>Carleton University, Ottawa Can RTC>GO FLAMES
RTC>email rtclark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
RTC>----------------------------------------------------------------------
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