Study Day: Michel Foucault, 'Panopticism' - Schedule
Part 1 (2-4pm):
Individual Contributions
1.1 Presentation of the study day: Introductory remarks (2-2.15pm)
1.2 Individual contributions by representatives of different disciplines (2.15pm-3.30pm):
Anthropology: Patrick Neveling "Spirits of capitalism and the discipline it takes to resist: the production of shirts, surplus and social relations in a Mauritian garment factory"
Islamic Studies: Asma Helali "The political mechanisms of the transmission in the medieval Arabic Islamic world"
Sociology: Sourav Kargupta "Knowledge, Power, Society: A few points about the introduction of English education in colonial India"
Comprehensive discussion (3.30pm-4pm)
Break (4pm-4.30pm)
Part 2 (4.30-5.15pm):
Workshop
2.1 Discussion in small working groups about issues relating to knowledge and power: Details will be announced later.
Part 3 (5.15pm-6pm):
Presentation of results by each working group, concluding discussion
The topic of our study day is the perpetuation of power structures in the bearing and sharing of knowledge and discourse. The formation of power and the formation of knowledge constitute an inseparable unity. Traditional views conceived power as a one-way process, with sovereigns imposing their will on their subjects in visible conflicts of interests. "Radical" views of power, however, include "socially structured and culturally patterned behaviour of groups and practices of institutions" (Steven Lukes), extending the scope of power from individuals to collective entities. Thus power does not merely function as a negative, restrictive force but it also produces knowledge and discourse.
This link was popularized by Michel Foucault, who explored how social formations organize technologies of power and knowledge that are mapped onto bodies and construct us as subjects.
As the main text to be read in advance of the study day we would like to suggest Foucault’s chapter entitled "Panopticism" in the volume Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Here Foucault describes the panopticon, a circular prison designed by Jeremy Bentham in the early 19th century. Its characteristic was that the watcher’s booth was located in the centre, from which the warden could see into each and every cell. Panoptical prisons were constructed frequently in the 1830s, but their popularity ceased thereafter. Foucault explains the rejection of panoptical prisons as follows,
"(I)t does not matter what motive animates him: the curiosity of the indiscreet, the malice of a child, the thirst for knowledge of a philosopher who wishes to visit this museum of human nature, or the perversity of those who take pleasure in spying and punishing."
According to Foucault, "visibility is a trap." Through this visibility modern society applies its controlling systems of power and knowledge.
We would like to ask you to reflect on your personal view of the power-knowledge formation from the perspective of your individual disciplines and research projects. After individual contributions to this multifaceted topic, you will have the opportunity to discuss your personal approaches in small working groups and present your findings at the end.
In addition to the main text, we have included material for your information in the reader.
We look forward to seeing you on June 14 2pm in HS XII Loewengebaeude.
Susanne Klien