Lecture 12

Question 1

What did Foucault say about utopia

Answer 1

people were looking for a new way of thinking about power relation
this guy emphasizes the distancing from any kind of utopian disposition (the approach)

[Foucault] refused give credence to any claims of universal truth, but instead to subject such claims to critical historical reflection. He casts aside utopian schemes, first principles, and aspirations toward revolution as sources of inspiration for political action, while subjecting them to critical examination as sources or manifestations of political power

Question 2

what is power to foucault

Answer 2

power for him isn’t the way you see it in the dictionary… it isn’t the traditional way
to him, the power that is excersized bu the state and institution that is easily recognized as agencies of power, they ae not the only ways by any means that power is excersisez, that influence of institutions over individuals is excersized \
he saw a relationship between power and knowledge that is inseperatable

Question 3

what is power-knowledge

Answer 3

power-knowledge: the hyphen between the two concepts represents an area of unstable, decentralized (but also potentially structured) techniques of control

Question 4

what has an overlapping meaning with power-knowledge

Answer 4

governmentality

Question 5

what is governmentality

Answer 5

a wide range of control techniques, not limited to “the art of government” or state politics, but extending to control in disciplinary institutions (schools, hospitals, etc.), and the internal, self control and regulation of individuals

Question 6

what does governmentality include

Answer 6

This includes the ways that social institutions exercise control over bodies—the growth of prisons and psychiatric institutions being perhaps the clearest examples—and implement techniques for the active self-formation or “subjectification

Question 7

what is bio-politics (foucault)

Answer 7

involves programs that deal with populations as both a scientific and a political problem, in which the goals are to increase the length of life and regulate biological mechanisms. This can be seen in the rise in interest in public hygiene, the establishment of institutions for assistance and insurance, the taking into account of relations between human beings and the environment, all underpinned by an interest in management, demography and other use of indicators, calculations, and forecasts that point to the relative prosperity of populations

Question 8

Wh is gramci

Answer 8

He is different than focalt
he is an italian philosopher who’s major work is never written for publication; written while he was in prison, he was a communist and elected as a deputy to a parliament that was already controlled by fascists
He wanted to make something of a record that would be more useful/oriented towards idea prosperity; and whole there in prision he reflected on the nature of power (he was after all incarcerated in a process of political corruption)
he thought about power and how it changed hands and the possibilities for decent; and this is where he comes out very different from last guy
possibility of decent is inherent in the nature of power for this guy; there is never the sense of power having such reach to the point that it cannot be opposed or teased out

Question 9

what is Senso comune

Answer 9

a set of certainties that people absorb without awareness or reflection from their milieu. It is not at all fixed or immobile, but “is continually transformed, enriched by scientific notions and philosophical opinions that have entered into custom” (1975: 2271). It is an active field of contest characterized by the strategic, political use of ideas as a tool of consent

Question 10

How is Gramci’s terms “Senso comune” different than foucalts word

Answer 10

this term isnt the idea of subjectivity like the last guy; there is this element that it can be changed, it is a field of contexts;

Question 11

who proposed hegemony

Answer 11

Gramci

Question 12

what is hegemony

Answer 12

goes beyond politico-military domination to include the ideological predominance of a ruling class that manipulates the value system and world view of the ruled as a way to legitimate existing forms of power. Involves the intellectual and moral leadership of different organizations of people in state formations. In some circumstances, hegemony can be used by subaltern intellectuals and sectors of society.

Question 13

how does hegemony relate to foucault’s thinking

Answer 13

this term is a little like the way the last guy thought about power; this guys conception fo this term is the value system and world view being dominated by power elite; the political elite is able to excessive power even where its power my not be legitimate
the problem for him s how is political power excessed int he context where the power is not necessarily legitimate; he looked at ho power could manipulate the way people think in the pursuit of political legitimacy

Question 14

what are the challenges of institutional ethnography

Answer 14

Access
mobility 
dispersion
secrecy 
Scrutiny and censorship

Question 15

what is access

Answer 15

(ethnography as a [frequently refused] tool of transparency)

you need to negotiate a regime of access to the institution; need permission to get in

Question 16

what is mobility

Answer 16

(eg. ‘cosmopolitan’ elites, no ‘place’ to ground observation)

a coming and going of personelle, there is a difficulty you might get as an ethnographer of getting a hand on things

Question 17

what is dispersion

Answer 17

(multiple ‘nodes’ of knowledge and action)

relates to the idea of multisighted ethnography— world Bank e.g…. need to look at both the headquarters AND where they do work to get the full picture (multi-sightedness)

Question 18

what is secrecy

Answer 18

(realms excluded from outsider observation)

extension of access that has to do with secrecy; even when you have access, people and institutions will be acting upon principles/rule/laws that relate to secrecy; you wont get the knowledge that is key to the way the organization works sometime due to these rules and such

Question 19

what is Scrutiny and censorship

Answer 19

(research ethics: the anthropologist as “researcher-perpetrator” and the agency as the “research subject in need of protection”

this has to do with the idea that even when you have access, you have overcome the boundaries of secrecy and can say something important about an institution, you might not be able to do it
the institution may be able to review your work before hand and they can limit you from exposing them due to ethics and such\
they can alter what you want to publish and put many limits there… you you need to secure a regime of access to allow you to say what you want to say and not be limited by censorship
these rules of access have been set up to protect people who have been marginalized, but the same rule apply to institutions to make it hard for people to expose them