Dear Clara,
Your concern about Foucault "neglecting the subjective element"
is understandable. Foucault's focus on the historical,
institutional, and discursive might give the impression that he is
neglecting the micro level of the process. However, I have always
found Foucault's discursive formulations refreshingly lucid and
flexible. His aim is to suggest precepts, or what Gilles Deleuze
would call a "box of tools," which the reader can utilize anyway
he/she sees fit according to particularity and specificity. The private
path to disecting/dismantling power structures is through knowledge
of the subtle and pervasive patterns that manifest themselves in
soci-historical spheres, systems, and sites.
Moreover, Foucault makes it clear in several of his interviews that we
as individuals have to devise informed stands and strategies apropo
power, whether desisting or resisting, on ethical or pragmatic
grounds. In this sense, power can be modified and/or reappropriated
so to become *productive*, i.e. produce the desired effect. I hope
that this helps. Best wishes.
Amin Malak
Department of English
Grant MacEwan Community College
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
T5J 4S2
Your concern about Foucault "neglecting the subjective element"
is understandable. Foucault's focus on the historical,
institutional, and discursive might give the impression that he is
neglecting the micro level of the process. However, I have always
found Foucault's discursive formulations refreshingly lucid and
flexible. His aim is to suggest precepts, or what Gilles Deleuze
would call a "box of tools," which the reader can utilize anyway
he/she sees fit according to particularity and specificity. The private
path to disecting/dismantling power structures is through knowledge
of the subtle and pervasive patterns that manifest themselves in
soci-historical spheres, systems, and sites.
Moreover, Foucault makes it clear in several of his interviews that we
as individuals have to devise informed stands and strategies apropo
power, whether desisting or resisting, on ethical or pragmatic
grounds. In this sense, power can be modified and/or reappropriated
so to become *productive*, i.e. produce the desired effect. I hope
that this helps. Best wishes.
Amin Malak
Department of English
Grant MacEwan Community College
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
T5J 4S2