Hi Everyone.
I trust you are all doing well? I have been posting sporadically since I
first signed on and usually am reluctant to offer any sort of comments
because I have yet to gain a full understanding of Foucault's work. I am,
however, working on my thesis concerning Foucault and New Reproductive
Technologies (NRTs). if anyone has any tips or hints, they would greatly
be appreciated.
As for the lack of communication on this list...well, I think that with F.
the threat is for us to be always coming back to the same issues which
are: Power, Discipline, and Discourse. A history of the present, in my
mind, is a fine example of Foucault's attempt to dig himself out of his
own theoretical hole so to speak. F. attempts to be the theorist but does
not simply want to "tell" us what to think. he resists the very
discourses that he must work within. This is, I believe, what makes his
work so ambiguous. I recall posting a something earlier on this whole
notion of power/resistance and someone kindly mentionned Wittgenstein's
idea of a 'box of tools'. I am trying to apply these "tools" that
Foucault has provided me with - attempting of course to integrate theory
with practice but encountering great difficulty because of his ambiguity.
With F. I believe a major facet of his theory is that slippery nature he
seems to emit. if he does not tell us what is possible, then we can never
be disappointed if we never get there. Conversely, by not telling us what
is possible we are constantly striving to achieve that something which is
undescribable. perhaps I am being too evasive myself in trying to explain
my reading of F. If so, I offer my apologies.
I hope that what i have said (or not said) will generate some discussion.
Regards,
Clara Ho
The University of Calgary