Review article
SPACE IN THE WORK OF MICHEL FOUCAULT
Sanja Stanić
orcid.org/0000-0003-0569-4841
; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Splitu
Josip Pandžić
; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Splitu
Abstract
By rejecting the concept of time in favor of the concept of space Foucault became one of the representatives of the so called “spatial turn” in humanities and social sciences. Foucault’s approach to spatial discourse as his key term and conceptual scheme is a critical one. The concept of discursive space implies spaces where discourses on space come into contact with physical space in its architectural, urban and institutionalized forms. Foucault’s examples of mental hospital, hospital and prison show how Foucault’s static model of discursive space developed into a dynamic model of social space where what is said or thought is regulated by the relations of power, space and knowledge. Foucault’s utopias and heterotopias are spaces that are connected and in relation with all the other spaces but that are at the same time contradictory as they undermine the very sets of relations in which they appear. Foucault’s analysis of power is based on the concept of dispositif as a system of relations, a heterogeneous set of mechanisms that support and enable power. He widens the definition of dispositif, as consisting of symbiosis between two instances, knowledge and power, to include the dimension of space, thus constructing a kind of a trialectic between knowledge, power and space. In the conclusion of the paper the significance of Foucault’s category of space is emphasized as essential for all forms of social life, the practice of power and the construction of knowledge. Foucault’s attempt to rehabilitate the concept of space is seen as crucial for future approaches to research of social reality.
Keywords
Foucault; space; discourse; prison; hospital; mental hospital; heterotopias; biopolitics; dispositif
Hrčak ID:
84017
URI
Publication date:
4.7.2012.
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