Written by: Sarita Kelkar
August 2, 2024
Who is Michel Foucault?
As I’ve learned about this French philosopher and historian, I’ve come to realize that the essence of Foucault may lay in ideas you’ve thought about before, but have yet to put a name to the face.
Much of Foucault’s philosophy revolves around power: forms of power, what power looks like in different contexts, and how power is exercised.
When you think of Foucault’s long list of publications and decades of theory-building, picture a snowball rolling down a large hill. As it gains traction, it picks up more snow along the way. And with the snow comes other things: dirt, leaves, sticks, pebbles. By the time it reaches the bottom of the hill, it’s not only much larger, but it carries much more than it did at its beginning.
Raised in a bourgeois family with a religious upbringing, many comment on Foucault’s troubled childhood, with his experiences of poor mental health, a tense relationship with his father, and a relationship to his sexuality that shaped his learning and future works.
Academically, Foucault emerged from and pushed forward the French tradition of history and science. He was also politically active throughout his life, with brief involvements in Marxism and the Communist Party. As such, Foucault’s body of work certainly reflects the various influences in his life.
Foucault’s theories can help us understand how discourse, knowledge, and power intersect to shape how we build relationships with each other and the world.
So, follow us down the rabbit hole of Michel Foucault, and learn how his theories can inform our understanding of social and narrative transformation.
(Image credit: Alexis Duclos/AP/REX/Shutterstock.com via Encyclopædia Brittanica)
Down the Rabbit Hole
Foucault’s Theories of Discourse and Power
A Journey into Foucault’s Ideas
Foucault and Narrative Transformation
CONCLUSION
Over the course of this rabbit hole, we’ve gone from the small ideas to the large—from bicycle safety laws to revolutionary thought; from education systems to prison systems; from pithy idioms like “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” to exploring how Foucault’s ideas about discourse and power can help get us closer to envisioning world peace through narrative transformation!
Foucault never shied away from thinking big, with his examinations of how discourse, perspective, power, and knowledge play a significant role in fashioning reality.
What I found resonating with me throughout this exploration is a sense of hope that Foucault nurtures even amongst discussions of “How much freedom or individuality do we have?” and “Who tells my story?” Realizing the existence of disciplinary power and the feedback loop discourse and power are in, for example, doesn’t exactly paint an inspiring picture of how much control we have over our lives, to say the least. But, what is comforting and heartening is how there is an expectation of norm-breaking, rebellion, revolution—whatever word you want to conceptualize change-making as—at the heart of disciplinary power.
Challenging this power isn’t just about tearing down systems; it can be as everyday as choosing how you want to describe an issue that affects you—and who you bring into the conversation. It doesn’t have to be a radical act—just one that demonstrates an awareness of the world around you.
The concepts covered in this rabbit hole—e.g., discourse, governmentality, narrative—don’t have to be wielded as methods of limiting and oppressing social behavior. Their effects, rather, can be “bad” and “good” and in between—often depending on changing perspectives. What matters is what we make of them.
Discourse, for example, can be something that . . .
Criminalizes mental health care ↔ Supports mental health patients
Reduces the value of someone’s identity ↔ Welcomes intersectionality
Advocates for war ↔ Advocates for peace
The versatility of discourse shows us two—or infinite—sides of the same coin. You get the picture!
Equipped with these tools from Foucault, we can begin to reimagine how structures are built, stories are told, and realities are created.
What’s most important is that, with the help of Foucault and other theorists, we can strive to understand how existing dynamics have come to be before we go about imagining—and enacting—reform.
After all, knowledge is power, isn’t it? Or is it the other way around? 😂
Author Bio
Sarita Kelkar is a rising third-year student studying Public Policy & Leadership and Statistics at the University of Virginia. Through ongoing research experiences with UVA, Sarita has explored topics such as community-police relations and diversity/intergroup contact, which has fueled her interest in well-being and equity. With some experience exploring these themes on the local government level as a Race and Social Equity intern for the City of Alexandria, Sarita looks forward to continuing to learn how theory and practice intersect and what that means for building healthy communities.
HOW TO CITE THIS RABBIT HOLE
Kelkar, Sarita. (2024, August 02). “Michel Foucault and Narrative Transformation.” The Narrative Transformation Lab. https://tntlab.carterschool.gmu.edu/discover/rabbit-holes/michel-foucault-and-narrative-transformation/.
Further Reading
Britannica. (2016). Social contract. In Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-contract.
Cobb, S. (2013). Speaking of violence: The politics and poetics of narrative dynamics in conflict resolution. Oxford University Press. https://academic.oup.com/book/8944.
Cole, N. L. (2019, February 12). Sociologist Michel Foucault: A brief intellectual history. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/michel-foucault-biography-3026478
Dr. Masood Raja. (2022, April 23). Foucault: The archeological & the genealogical methods| Understanding Foucault [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ9QQxFbzlM.
Duignan, B. (2023). Social contract – The social contract in Rousseau. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-contract/The-social-contract-in-Rousseau.
Ghamari-Tabrizi, B. (2016). Foucault in Iran: Islamic revolution after the enlightenment. University of Minnesota Press. https://nes.princeton.edu/publications/foucault-iran-islamic-revolution-after-enlightenment.
Gutting, G., & Oksala, J. (2003, April 02). Michel Foucault. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/foucault/.
Crossman, A. (2019, April 07). Overview of The History of Sexuality. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-sexuality-3026762.
Huff, R. (2019). Governmentality | Political science. In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/governmentality.
Kelly, M. (n.d.). Foucault, Michel: Political thought. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://iep.utm.edu/fouc-pol/.
Luis Palos , A. (Director). (2012). Precious knowledge | Ethnic Studies in Arizona [Film]. PBS: Independent Lens. https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/precious-knowledge/.
Mayo, C. (2018). Intersections, ambivalence, and racial justice in schools: Black queer students remap complexity. Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 120(14), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811812001407.
Michel Foucault discourse theory: Definition. (n.d.). Vaia. https://www.vaia.com/en-us/explanations/english/key-concepts-in-language-and-linguistics/michel-foucault-discourse-theory/.
Michel Foucault: Summary and ideas. (n.d.). StudySmarter UK. Retrieved July 28, 2024, from https://www.studysmarter.co.uk/explanations/social-studies/famous-sociologists/michel-foucault/#:~:text=What%20were%20Foucault%27s%20main%20ideas.
Oise, G. J. S. D. (2003). SCHOOLING AND THE DILEMMA OF YOUTH DISENGAGEMENT. McGill Journal of Education / Revue Des Sciences de l’Éducation de McGill, 38(002). https://mje.mcgill.ca/article/view/8683/6626.
Pedagogy of the oppressed. (n.d.). Zinn Education Project. https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/pedagogy-of-the-oppressed/#:~:text=Pedagogy%20of%20the%20Oppressed%20is.
The Curious Philosopher. (2024, March 13). Michel Foucault’s concept of disciplinary power — Unveiling the mechanisms of social control. Medium. https://medium.com/@thecuriousphilosopher/michel-foucaults-concept-of-disciplinary-power-unveiling-the-mechanisms-of-social-control-b909be729038.
Rohmer, A. (2024, February 06). We need to talk about car supremacy. Peace and Planning. https://peaceandplanning.com/2024/02/05/we-need-to-talk-about-car-supremacy/.
Then & Now. (2020, December 15). Foucault: Madness & Civilization (History of Madness) [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q1uSC1skkY.
Virginia bicycle laws. (n.d.). Bike Law. https://www.bikelaw.com/laws/virginia/.
Young, S. M. (2019, February 26). Michel Foucault: Discipline. Critical Legal Thinking. https://criticallegalthinking.com/2019/02/26/michel-foucault-discipline/.
Image Credits
The banner for the “Introduction” is a composite of three public domain images:
- (1) Plan view of the panopticon prison, by Willey Reveley, 1791. [Source]
- (2) The interior of The Royal Panopticon of Science and Art in London, print from 1854. By Walter Thornbury, published in 1878. [Source]
- (3) This plan of Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon prison was drawn by Willey Reveley in 1791. [Source]
The scrapbook image in “A Journey into Foucault’s Ideas” was created by Audrey Williams via Canva.
Public domain portraits in “A Journey into Foucault’s Ideas”:
- The portrait of John Locke by Godfrey Kneller (1697) is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929.
- The portrait of Jean-Jacques Rousseau by Maurice Quentin de La Tour (~1753) is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas (including the United States) where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 100 years or fewer.
All other image credits are included where the images appear in this article.
