>the dispositif marks a conceptual shift away from the thoroughly discursive
>?episteme.? simply stated by foucault, the dispositif is a ?thoroughly
>heterogeneous ensemble? of discursive and material elements, including
>?discourses, institutions, architectural forms, regulatory decisions, laws,
>administrative measures, scientific statements, philosophical, moral and
>philanthropic propositions? among myriad others.
>
>conceptually, the dispositif places us in the middle of what deleuze calls
>?a multilinear ensemble composed of heterogeneous lines? with power,
>knowledge and subjectivity comprising the major variables. it is the complex
>set of relations of these dispositifs which allows us to see and speak,
>establishing grids of intelligibility, and, in the process not producing
>?ideology? but their own ?truths?. to paraphrase michael hardt, ?dispositifs
>constitute the horizon of the world (the limits of our thought and action)
>expressing the weight, corporeality and power of being?. yet it is important
>to remember that the dispositif arose from a conceptual crisis for
>foucault?to break out of the conceptual trap of power as domination. thus
>the dispositif rejects ?unbreakable and definitive contours? which
>hermetically contain subjectivities to which we are interpellated tout
>court. instead dispositifs always leak; processes of subjectification
>therein can be lines of flight; and one is not beholden to the ?truth?
>produced. thus, for me at least, the dispositif can be read in affinity with
>italian autonomist marxists, for whom, within power-knowledge relations,
>resistance always comes first. if this notion seems interesting to anyone, i
>have a related published article on ?the italian foucault? at
>(http://aspen.conncoll.edu/politicsandculture/page.cfm?key=259).
>
Thanks for the weblink. I would argue that the idea of heterogeneous ensemble
is already found in Foucault's idea of a discursive episteme and its
regularity of dispersion. It seems little appreciated that the term, in both
English and French, refers not only to a scattering of elements in an open or
empty space, but also the dispersion of one substance in another in such a way
that the substances do not become a homogenous mixture (examples are emulsions
and aerosols) and the term can be similarly linked to disposition and
articulation.
Though it doesn't bring up Foucault's use of dispositif, I have a piece,
"Foucault and Power Revisited" that has just appeared in the October issue of
the European Journal of Political Theory. An earlier and rougher version
presented at the 2003 PSA conference can be found on the web at
www.psa.ac.uk/cps/2003/nathan%20widder.pdf.
Nathan
Dr. Nathan Widder
Lecturer in Political Theory
University of Exeter
Exeter EX4 4RJ
United Kingdom
Web page: http://www.ex.ac.uk/shipss/politics/staff/widder/
Genealogies of Difference: http://www.press.uillinois.edu/s02/widder.html
MA in Critical Global Studies: http://www.ex.ac.uk/shipss/school/ma/global.php
>?episteme.? simply stated by foucault, the dispositif is a ?thoroughly
>heterogeneous ensemble? of discursive and material elements, including
>?discourses, institutions, architectural forms, regulatory decisions, laws,
>administrative measures, scientific statements, philosophical, moral and
>philanthropic propositions? among myriad others.
>
>conceptually, the dispositif places us in the middle of what deleuze calls
>?a multilinear ensemble composed of heterogeneous lines? with power,
>knowledge and subjectivity comprising the major variables. it is the complex
>set of relations of these dispositifs which allows us to see and speak,
>establishing grids of intelligibility, and, in the process not producing
>?ideology? but their own ?truths?. to paraphrase michael hardt, ?dispositifs
>constitute the horizon of the world (the limits of our thought and action)
>expressing the weight, corporeality and power of being?. yet it is important
>to remember that the dispositif arose from a conceptual crisis for
>foucault?to break out of the conceptual trap of power as domination. thus
>the dispositif rejects ?unbreakable and definitive contours? which
>hermetically contain subjectivities to which we are interpellated tout
>court. instead dispositifs always leak; processes of subjectification
>therein can be lines of flight; and one is not beholden to the ?truth?
>produced. thus, for me at least, the dispositif can be read in affinity with
>italian autonomist marxists, for whom, within power-knowledge relations,
>resistance always comes first. if this notion seems interesting to anyone, i
>have a related published article on ?the italian foucault? at
>(http://aspen.conncoll.edu/politicsandculture/page.cfm?key=259).
>
Thanks for the weblink. I would argue that the idea of heterogeneous ensemble
is already found in Foucault's idea of a discursive episteme and its
regularity of dispersion. It seems little appreciated that the term, in both
English and French, refers not only to a scattering of elements in an open or
empty space, but also the dispersion of one substance in another in such a way
that the substances do not become a homogenous mixture (examples are emulsions
and aerosols) and the term can be similarly linked to disposition and
articulation.
Though it doesn't bring up Foucault's use of dispositif, I have a piece,
"Foucault and Power Revisited" that has just appeared in the October issue of
the European Journal of Political Theory. An earlier and rougher version
presented at the 2003 PSA conference can be found on the web at
www.psa.ac.uk/cps/2003/nathan%20widder.pdf.
Nathan
Dr. Nathan Widder
Lecturer in Political Theory
University of Exeter
Exeter EX4 4RJ
United Kingdom
Web page: http://www.ex.ac.uk/shipss/politics/staff/widder/
Genealogies of Difference: http://www.press.uillinois.edu/s02/widder.html
MA in Critical Global Studies: http://www.ex.ac.uk/shipss/school/ma/global.php