Maybe this has been discussed before, but anyway,
I wonder if you see genealogy as a kind of "counter-history" to a more
canonical/encyclopedic/traditional view on history; that is an alternative
history to both _the_ History, as one great narrative, and more regional
histories about the progress of a scientific discipline, an institution, a
way of behavior etc.? Another way to put the question is, could we only
operate with different kinds of genealogies, or is a genealogical inquiry
dependent on (and maybe mutually interdependent with) an
all-ready-taken-for-granted history which it can oppose?
I myself regard genealogy as an history of problematizations, since it
doesn´t explain how historical changes appear (from one episteme or
"dispositif" to another), and never emphasize itself as a kind of
storytelling which tells what "actually happened" behind what we take as a
truth. It rather stresses itself as a possible history behind a phenomenon
(a practice, a belief, an institution etc.), a history which traces the
descents (Herkunft) which constitutes an object of knowledge as we know it
today. The object of knowledge (or a practice) investigated, is itself put
forward as an diagnosis of a particular contemporary condition, not as an
selfevidently fact. In that way genealogy can avoid establishing a
historical truth behind a phenomeneon, but only make a fruitful
problematization of a phenomenon taken for granted.
Anybody got any comments?
Morten Lyngeng
-----Opprinnelig melding-----
Fra: owner-foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:owner-foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]På; vegne av Jeffrey
Hearn
Sendt: 10. mars 2000 13:33
Til: foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Emne: re: History of...
We basically need to rewrite the history of _everything_ from within a
Foucauldian/genealogical/nomadic point of view, but the one I most wish to
see, and will write one day if nobody else will, is a genealogy of modern
historiographic practice itself.
Jeffrey Hearn
The Untimely Past
----------------------- Internet Header --------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 21:48:56 -0800 (PST)
From: Travis Ennis <tlennis_iu@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: History of...
To: foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Foucault wrote the history of madness, the medical gaze, the prison system,
sexuality. I have read that his next work, if he had lived, was going to
be a history of war, the institutions of war and the military dimension of
society. I thought that other topics that would be prime for Foucauldian
study would be the history of death, dreams, eroticism, and marriage. I
would like to know what everyones thoughts are concerning what histories
of... would yield the most interesting results if looked at from a
Foucauldian perspective.
Thanks
Travis Ennis
I wonder if you see genealogy as a kind of "counter-history" to a more
canonical/encyclopedic/traditional view on history; that is an alternative
history to both _the_ History, as one great narrative, and more regional
histories about the progress of a scientific discipline, an institution, a
way of behavior etc.? Another way to put the question is, could we only
operate with different kinds of genealogies, or is a genealogical inquiry
dependent on (and maybe mutually interdependent with) an
all-ready-taken-for-granted history which it can oppose?
I myself regard genealogy as an history of problematizations, since it
doesn´t explain how historical changes appear (from one episteme or
"dispositif" to another), and never emphasize itself as a kind of
storytelling which tells what "actually happened" behind what we take as a
truth. It rather stresses itself as a possible history behind a phenomenon
(a practice, a belief, an institution etc.), a history which traces the
descents (Herkunft) which constitutes an object of knowledge as we know it
today. The object of knowledge (or a practice) investigated, is itself put
forward as an diagnosis of a particular contemporary condition, not as an
selfevidently fact. In that way genealogy can avoid establishing a
historical truth behind a phenomeneon, but only make a fruitful
problematization of a phenomenon taken for granted.
Anybody got any comments?
Morten Lyngeng
-----Opprinnelig melding-----
Fra: owner-foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:owner-foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]På; vegne av Jeffrey
Hearn
Sendt: 10. mars 2000 13:33
Til: foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Emne: re: History of...
We basically need to rewrite the history of _everything_ from within a
Foucauldian/genealogical/nomadic point of view, but the one I most wish to
see, and will write one day if nobody else will, is a genealogy of modern
historiographic practice itself.
Jeffrey Hearn
The Untimely Past
----------------------- Internet Header --------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 21:48:56 -0800 (PST)
From: Travis Ennis <tlennis_iu@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: History of...
To: foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Foucault wrote the history of madness, the medical gaze, the prison system,
sexuality. I have read that his next work, if he had lived, was going to
be a history of war, the institutions of war and the military dimension of
society. I thought that other topics that would be prime for Foucauldian
study would be the history of death, dreams, eroticism, and marriage. I
would like to know what everyones thoughts are concerning what histories
of... would yield the most interesting results if looked at from a
Foucauldian perspective.
Thanks
Travis Ennis