Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 13:23:45 -0500 (CDT) From: CROSBYJL-AT-ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu Subject: The Miller Flame It is very interesting to me how Foucault's discriptions of diciplinary practices and 'regulatory fuctions' are interpreted as attacks on them, and calls for their elimination. To my knowledge, this is not Foucault's goal. An understanding of the ways in which we opperate within power relations and institutions does not call for the elimination of those relations and institutions, but allows us to locate sites from which we can resist. Foucault is not an anarchist. He does not call for the elimination of normative practices, but shows us methods by which they can be evaluated, illuminated, and undercut where we see fit. All of this requires a prior awareness of exactly what one's commitments and positions are, and a recognition that when one calls for change, one may be complicit with another oppressive power structure. And aren't the flames as much of a regulating of discussion on this list as the posts to which they are replying? Just a few thoughts, Joanna Crosby crosbyjl-AT-ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu ------------------
Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005