Doug H. wrote
>
> At 9:37 PM -0500 3/12/97, John Ransom wrote:
>
> >Power produces bodies, gestures, desires, etc.
>
> Just what is this power? Where does it reside? Or is it like God,
> everywhere and nowhere?
>
> Doug
>
I just don't think it is plausible to suggest that Foucault's ideas
about power are in any way mysterious. They may be unusual and/or
incorrect. But they are not mysterious or even inexplicit. Foucault
is quite explicit in Hist. of Sex. volume 1. If you find that
obscure, there are texts which are so explicit and clear that there is
no room whatsoever for complaints of obscurity: Joseph Rouse's
"Power/Knowledge" in G. Gutting's CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO FOUCAULT
(esp. pp. 105-109), for example, or Thomas Wartenburg's "Situated
Social Power" in RETHINKING POWER (which he co-edited). (F's
conception, though relatively straightforward, would take some time to
explain from the ground up, so I won't try here and now).
I do admit, though, that the phrase "power produces X" is more trouble
than it is worth. But replacing it with something like "X is shaped
and sustained by relationships of power" solves that problem.
Steve.
>
> At 9:37 PM -0500 3/12/97, John Ransom wrote:
>
> >Power produces bodies, gestures, desires, etc.
>
> Just what is this power? Where does it reside? Or is it like God,
> everywhere and nowhere?
>
> Doug
>
I just don't think it is plausible to suggest that Foucault's ideas
about power are in any way mysterious. They may be unusual and/or
incorrect. But they are not mysterious or even inexplicit. Foucault
is quite explicit in Hist. of Sex. volume 1. If you find that
obscure, there are texts which are so explicit and clear that there is
no room whatsoever for complaints of obscurity: Joseph Rouse's
"Power/Knowledge" in G. Gutting's CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO FOUCAULT
(esp. pp. 105-109), for example, or Thomas Wartenburg's "Situated
Social Power" in RETHINKING POWER (which he co-edited). (F's
conception, though relatively straightforward, would take some time to
explain from the ground up, so I won't try here and now).
I do admit, though, that the phrase "power produces X" is more trouble
than it is worth. But replacing it with something like "X is shaped
and sustained by relationships of power" solves that problem.
Steve.