Post- Structuralism Flashcards
Governmentality
The strategies, technologies, and discourses governments, institutions, and other actors use to manage people, regulate behavior, and shape social life.
Key Concepts of governmentality
Power
Self-Governance
Influence
Impact of Post-Structuralism
Highly dynamic, constantly challenging traditional ways of thinking.
Post-Structuralism and Intersectionality
Similarity: Both emphasize complexity, especially in understanding how identities and structures intersect and interact.
Difference: Intersectionality is more of an analytical approach than a full theory, applied by various disciplines rather than rooted in a single theoretical framework.
Post-Structuralism benefits
- Challenges the traditional Ways of Thinking
- there is power in the acknowledgement of unfair power structures as it motivates change
- values local ideas
- Supports Community-Led Efforts
Critiques of Post-Structural Theory
- ideas cant urgently respond to rapid large-scale change (ex. climate crisis)
- doesn’t provide concrete solutions
- romantizizes local “traditions” by criticizing them
- often rejects universal notions of right and wrong
Neocolonial Concerns for funding sanitary concerns
Funding can make power imbalances worse, with donors pushing their own goals. However, because of past and current inequalities, richer countries or international groups may have a duty to help.
Who Does the Labor for sanitary issues
Marginalized Groups, the Poor, and ‘Self-Help’ Initiatives: These groups often perform essential sanitation labor but with little recognition, security, or support.
Self-Help Initiatives: pros and cons
Pros: They can empower local communities.
Cons: Risks offloading government responsibility and overburdening already disadvantaged groups.
Who Regulates sanitary issues
Non-Hierarchical Structures: Decentralized governance might empower local solutions, yet can struggle with coordination across regions.
Cross-Border/Global Effects: Many environmental issues (like water contamination) cross borders, challenging the traditional nation-centered approach.
Pros and cons of entrepreneurs operating as small businesses as a step towards privatization
Pros: creates recognition and potential economic opportunities for workers.
Cons: Privatization may not always lead to fair wages or improved working conditions and can commercialize essential services.
Does ‘Modern’ Thinking Ignore Diversity
Many “modern” development frameworks assume a one-size-fits-all approach, which can marginalize diverse cultural and ecological understandings.
Critique of Development (Ziai)
importanttttt
Development often imposes Western ideals and ignores local contexts, cultural diversity, and alternative pathways.
Alternative Narratives for development (Ziai)
“post-development”: a framework that challenges the need for traditional development and suggests non-Western approaches (e.g., Buen Vivir in Latin America).
Southern Urbanism (Schindler)
how cities in the Global South develop in their own unique ways, rather than following the same path as cities in richer countries. Based on:
- colonial impact of these cities
- informal housing/ jobs because limited opportunity
- leadership run by outside governance like NGOs
Implications of Southern Urbanism
Southern urbanism paradigm can lead to more equitable, relevant urban policies and foster innovation through inclusivity.
Heterogeneity
diversity or variety within a group, system
Key Argument of Heterogeneity of Infrastructure
Infrastructure is not uniform but highly varied, reflecting different needs, resources, and local knowledge.
Key Argument of Flexible and Hybrid Models
Highlights the importance of hybrid infrastructures (formal and informal, public and private) that adapt to specific contexts, especially in cities with limited formal resources.
Key Argument of Local Agency and Innovation
Emphasizes the role of local actors in shaping infrastructure, using their knowledge to create resilient, contextually appropriate solutions.
Key Argument of Global Relevance
These different approaches to infrastructure, while mainly focused on the Global South, are important for everyone, especially as cities grow and resources become harder to access.
Key Argument of Implications
Calls for rethinking infrastructure policy to acknowledge and leverage the creativity and agency found in informal systems, leading to more sustainable and inclusive urban development globally.
Buen Vivir
alternative based on prioritizing human well-being, social justice and cultural identity meaning “well being” or good living”
Orientalism
when the West stereotypes and misrepresents the East (Asia, the Middle East, etc.) as exotic, backward, or uncivilized. aka “regime as truth”
regimes of truth
When power is used to make Western knowledge seem like the only true and expert knowledge.
Binaries
“us” vs “them”
Subaltern
those who have been oppressed / marginalized under colonialism and continue to be under “post-colonial” regimes
discourse
ways of thinking, talking, representing knowledge
discourse analysis
explores the socio-political meanings in texts, seeking to reveal what is left unsaid
what do discourse and regimes of truth have in common
less concerned with “truthfulness” of the content of discourse but how effective the discourse is
both post-structuralism and Marxism…
seek to dismantle the current system but have different visions for a post-capitalist world
post-structuralism
a way of thinking that challenges fixed meanings and structures, arguing that knowledge, truth, and power are shaped by language, culture, and context, and are always open to interpretation.
