Michel Foucault’s Techniques of the Self and the Christian Politics of Obedience

Macmillan, Alexandre

doi:10.1177/0263276411405348

Cited by 19 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The religious dimension expressed in these apocalyptic metaphors is all the more important in that it presents a first bridge to the logic of risk -which is based on 'pastoral power' (Foucault, 2007: 123-4; on Foucault's analysis of Christianity, see Macmillan, 2011). Foucault disregarded, or at least downplayed, the fact that Christianity and/or its oriental ancestors not only gave birth to the pastorate but also were the first apocalyptic religions (for the notion of apocalypse, see Swyngedouw, 2010: 218-9).…”

Section: Climate Change and The Logic Of Apocalypsementioning

confidence: 99%

Politics for the day after tomorrow: The logic of apocalypse in global climate politics

Methmann¹,

Rothe²

2012

Security Dialogue

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The recent global climate change discourse is a prominent example of a securitization of environmental issues. While the problem is often framed in the language of existentialism, crisis or even apocalypse, climate discourses rarely result in exceptional or extraordinary measures, but rather put forth a governmental scheme of piecemeal and technocratic solutions often associated with risk management. This article argues that this seeming paradox is no accident but follows from a politics of apocalypse that combines two logics -those of security and risk -which in critical security studies are often treated as two different animals. Drawing on the hegemony theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, however, this article shows that the two are inherently connected. In the same way as the Christian pastorate could not do without apocalyptic imageries, today's micro-politics of risk depends on a series of macro-securitizations that enable and legitimize the governmental machinery. This claim is backed up by an inquiry into current global discourses of global climate change regarding mitigation, adaptation and security implications. Although these discourses are often framed through the use of apocalyptic images, they rarely result in exceptional or extraordinary measures, but rather advance a governmental scheme of risk management. Tracing the relationship between security and risk in these discourses, we use the case of climate change to highlight the relevance of our theoretical argument.

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Section: Climate Change and The Logic Of Apocalypsementioning

confidence: 99%

Politics for the day after tomorrow: The logic of apocalypse in global climate politics

Methmann¹,

Rothe²

2012

Security Dialogue

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“…As Legg (2019:29) notes, the vast majority of acts of parrhesia discussed by Foucault do not constitute any kind of straightforward example of resistance. Instead, he explores connections between ethical concerns around the government of the self and political issues concerning the government of others (Macmillan, 2011;Brigstocke, 2013). In contrast to the truth-telling of the expert, parrhesia is a verbal activity where a speaker expresses a personal relationship to truth, and puts herself at risk because she recognizes truth-telling as a duty to improve or help other people as well as herself (Foucault, 2001: 20).…”

Section: Foucault On Militant Laughter and Parrhesiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Resisting with authority? Anarchist laughter and the violence of truth

Brigstocke

2020

Social & Cultural Geography

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How is it possible to resist with authority? This article explores the role of humour and laughter in contesting authoritative knowledge and discourse. Bringing Michel Foucault's account of 'parrhesia', or courageous truth-telling, into conversation with geographies of humour, laughter, and authority, the paper explores affective, non-representational modes of truth telling in early anarchist spatial culture. Focusing on an anarchist cabaret in 1890s Paris which humorously parodied the forced labour camps to which anarchists had been deported after the 1871 Paris Commune, as well as on the grotesque laughter of an executed anarchist's severed head, the paper develops a new theorisation of how satire, parody, irony and the grotesque were deployed in militant truth-telling to articulate a new aesthetics of revolutionary authority.

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“…A recent rise in interest across the social sciences notwithstanding (e.g. Paterson and Stripple 2010;Macmillan 2011;Skinner 2012;Little 2013), less attention has been paid to Foucault's later work on subjectivation -the practices of self-fashioning through which individuals govern themselves. In the 1980s, Foucault's histories of the present moved beyond a focus on institutions and populations to critical reflection on the relation one has with the self (ethics).…”

Section: Why Foucault?mentioning

confidence: 99%