Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 07:32:05 -0500 From: Ian Robert Douglas <Ian_Robert_Douglas-AT-Brown.edu> Subject: holiday fun I remember reading once of a doctoral candidate--I think from Toronto--who completed a study of "Foucault's humanism" and was rather upset when, having the chance to meet the man, Foucault dismissed her effort, telling her (paraphrasing) 'you should have done a genealogy' ... ______________________________________________ *** I propose a game! How many genealogical studies of institutions can we name? I made a tentative list of possible 'institutions' (for the moment, using a fairly narrow understanding of the word): the asylum, the prison, the courthouse, the clinic, the factory, the barracks, the sanatorium, the school, the mortuary, the intersection, the cemetery, the funfair, the stadium, the bedroom, the mall, the hotel room, the supermarket, the couch, the museum, the post office, the library, the bank, the university, the airport, the chapel, the park, the household, the brothel, the office, the washroom, the bathhouse, the gymnasium, the public house, the theatre, the car, the disco, the highway, the crosswalk, the State. (the last isn't really appropriate, but I can never resist to remind myself of its existence) *** Selection criteria: I counted only--for the moment--"real spaces" (unlike 'marriage', or 'the family', for example, which are often referred to as 'institutions'). I tried to ensure each was differentiated, to a degree, from the others (for example, I didn't list the "rest home", as this is something of an amalgam of the clinic and the cemetery, which I'd already listed). I also suggest these must be locations of mass activity, that is to say, they traverse, penetrate, the mundane and normal existence of people; not simply occasional activities, but spaces where one might guess that somebody actually is--indeed many people are--at any given time, somewhere on the planet. Obviously there is some difficulty here--Foucault never attempted the genealogy of the actual institution (as say, Goffman did of the asylum), but was more interested in the genealogy of the particular rationality at stake. I'm assuming I'm understood on this ... some slippage between the two is OK. THE GAME: __________________________________ How many of these institutions have been studied genealogically, and by who? *** Selection criteria: any--as long as there is a systematic (or near systematic) attempt to study them. Journal articles, in other words, would be admissable. Any language. please send suggestions to add to the following (suggestive) list: p.s., I guess it's not fair if I win the game, so the following are only the most obvious suggestions .. p.p.s., great studies which are not really 'genealogical' but erudite, are also admissable. p.p.p.s., if in doubt, leave a ?? after. ___the asylum M. Foucault, (1961) _Folie et deraison_ ___ the prison M. Foucault, (c1977) _Discipline and Punish_ ___ the courthouse ___ the clinic M. Foucault, (c1973) _The Birth of the Clinic_ ___ the factory ___ the barracks G. Oestreich, (1982) _Neostoicism and the early modern state_?? ___ the sanatorium ___ the school Jones, K. & K. Williamson, (1979) 'The birth of the schoolroom', _Ideology and Consciousness_ 6, pp. 58-110 ___ the mortuary ___ the intersection ___ the cemetery ___ the funfair ___ the stadium ___ the bedroom ___ the mall ___ the hotel room ___ the supermarket ___ the couch ___ the museum ___ the post office ___ the library ___ the bank ___ the university ___ the airport ___ the chapel ___ the park ___ the household ___ the brothel ___ the office ___ the washroom ___ the bathhouse ___ the gymnasium ___ the public house ___ the theatre ___ the car ___ the disco ___ the highway L. Mumford, (1963) _The Highway and the City_?? ___ the crosswalk POINT OF GAME: __________________________________ jouissance? you decide ... THE CARROT: __________________________________ The person judged (by me) to have contributed the best list of suggestions will be offered the handsome prize of several free drinks; to be claimed henceforth if they ever come to New York City when I happen to be in town. happy holidays! ______________________________________________ Ian R. Douglas | Watson Institute of International Studies Brown University, Box 1831, Providence, RI 02912 USA tel: 401 863-2420 fax: 401 863-2192 "Only he who takes what he writes directly out of his own head is worth reading." - Schopenhauer http://www.powerfoundation.org
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