Foucault and Education
Gail Jardine. (2005). Peter Lang Publishing
My main concern [is] to locate the forms of power, the channels it takes, and the discourses it permeates in order to reach the most tenuous individual modes of behavior (Foucaut, M. The History of Sexuality: An Introduction, Vol. 1. 1976/1990).
Jardine summarizes Foucault's work from pedagogical perspectives with an emphasis on "disciplinary knowledge" acted on individual, that is, knowledge is not outside of power and disciplinary knowledge especially trains individuals in a particulary society to comply to the system of power (p.10). Another emphasis is given on Foucault's contribution to empowerment of individuals, "care of the self", in his own word. [This is quite new to me and triggers my curiosity. The author quotes Foucault from various sources and, in particular, The Archeology of Knowledge (1969), in which, according to Jardine, a framework useful to analyze systems of knowledge is given, and Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other writings (1980) draw my attention and I will look into these books next.]
Jardine elaborates the context where Foucault used subjugated knowledge in a way of analyzing the power structure underneath (p.27) by quoting "through the re-emergence of these low-ranking knowledge [...] criticism performs its work" (Foucault, 1980), and highlights his emphasis on analysing actual effects power exercises on individuals at its "continuous and uninterrupted process" (Foucault, 1980) (pp.31-32). Thus, Jardine explains, Foucault began to analyze techniques and procedures with which power performs for economic/political purposes at the very basic level in order to explain the autonomous power in relation to general power. The author calls this approach "intimate localness" (p.35-37) and pays attention to the way Foucault saw power and objectified body: bodies, controlled by scientific knowledge in the 20th century, becomes domiciled through disciplinary techniques exercised in all institutions where the knowledge is promoted (pp.50-55). While explaining Foucault's notion of the changed regime of power in the 20th century, the author supports the idea with Franklin's insight (The Real World of Technology, 1992), that is capitalists' normalized access to the public space, either government or government-subsidized institutions, to build the foundations for their factories (p.40). However, it is affirmed that Foucault did not focus on facts within certain knowledge produced in a specific era, instead identifying the underlying procedures and conditions (p.88). [Right, because knowledge is constructed. To identify globlization and knowledge produced in higher education, the underlying assumptions and unspoken agreements should be addressed.]
Jardine introduces Foucault's definition of discourse as "the group of statements that belong to a single system of formation" (The Archeology of Knowledge).
My main concern [is] to locate the forms of power, the channels it takes, and the discourses it permeates in order to reach the most tenuous individual modes of behavior (Foucaut, M. The History of Sexuality: An Introduction, Vol. 1. 1976/1990).
Jardine summarizes Foucault's work from pedagogical perspectives with an emphasis on "disciplinary knowledge" acted on individual, that is, knowledge is not outside of power and disciplinary knowledge especially trains individuals in a particulary society to comply to the system of power (p.10). Another emphasis is given on Foucault's contribution to empowerment of individuals, "care of the self", in his own word. [This is quite new to me and triggers my curiosity. The author quotes Foucault from various sources and, in particular, The Archeology of Knowledge (1969), in which, according to Jardine, a framework useful to analyze systems of knowledge is given, and Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other writings (1980) draw my attention and I will look into these books next.]
Jardine elaborates the context where Foucault used subjugated knowledge in a way of analyzing the power structure underneath (p.27) by quoting "through the re-emergence of these low-ranking knowledge [...] criticism performs its work" (Foucault, 1980), and highlights his emphasis on analysing actual effects power exercises on individuals at its "continuous and uninterrupted process" (Foucault, 1980) (pp.31-32). Thus, Jardine explains, Foucault began to analyze techniques and procedures with which power performs for economic/political purposes at the very basic level in order to explain the autonomous power in relation to general power. The author calls this approach "intimate localness" (p.35-37) and pays attention to the way Foucault saw power and objectified body: bodies, controlled by scientific knowledge in the 20th century, becomes domiciled through disciplinary techniques exercised in all institutions where the knowledge is promoted (pp.50-55). While explaining Foucault's notion of the changed regime of power in the 20th century, the author supports the idea with Franklin's insight (The Real World of Technology, 1992), that is capitalists' normalized access to the public space, either government or government-subsidized institutions, to build the foundations for their factories (p.40). However, it is affirmed that Foucault did not focus on facts within certain knowledge produced in a specific era, instead identifying the underlying procedures and conditions (p.88). [Right, because knowledge is constructed. To identify globlization and knowledge produced in higher education, the underlying assumptions and unspoken agreements should be addressed.]
Jardine introduces Foucault's definition of discourse as "the group of statements that belong to a single system of formation" (The Archeology of Knowledge).
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