On Visibility and Power: An Arendtian Corrective of Foucault

Gordon, Neve

doi:10.1023/a:1015599323147

Cited by 72 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…This would be an example of innovative power that 'enables' and 'enforces' constitutive power, meanwhile preventing transformative power. In this case, the synergetic 4 While the definition of innovative power is not taken from the literature, it has been inspired by Arendt's notions of power and natality (1994:321, in: Gordon, 2002). Arendt defines power as "the human ability not just to act but to act in concert", emphasizing visibility and plurality as conditions of power (1958( :200, in: Gordon, 2002.…”

Section: Power Dynamics and Power Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6 Gordon used Arendt's notion of power and natality to complement Foucault's supposed weakness to deal with freedom and agency. Arendt's notion of natality emphasises the inherent human capacity to create something new; the "birth of individual men re-affirms the original character of man in such a way that origin can never become entirely a thing of the past" (1994:321, in: Gordon, 2002).…”

Section: Power Dynamics and Power Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A dynamic conceptualization of power for sustainability research

Avelino¹,

Rotmans²

2011

Journal of Cleaner Production

192

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Section: Power Dynamics and Power Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Power Dynamics and Power Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A dynamic conceptualization of power for sustainability research

Avelino¹,

Rotmans²

2011

Journal of Cleaner Production

192

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“…Total 'visibility' may lead to total control, as explained in Foucault's discussion of the panopticon -a symbol of total surveillance (Gordon 2002). In addition, visibility can lead to regulation, selectivity, or stratification.…”

Section: Reflection On In/visibility As a Form Of Everyday Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

10 Strategic Invisibility as Everyday Politics for a Life with Dignity: Guatemalan Women Migrants’ Experiences of Insecurity at Mexico’s Southern Border

Rojas-Wiesner

DeVargas

2013

Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace

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3The re-scaling of border control and the conflation of migration, crime, and national security in Mexico in the last decade have generated new practices of 'flow management' at the southern border with a differentiated impact on migrants. This chapter draws on research findings on Guatemalan im/migrant 4 women (some of whom have been living in Mexico for generations) to examine the kinds of insecurity they face in daily life as migrants of Mayan origin.5 By engaging with the contextual and specific meanings of in/securities generated by the processes of 'othering' experienced by these migrants, especially those with an irregular status, the chapter focuses on the significance of the politics of everyday life and how in/visibility becomes a strategic field of struggle for them, both to ensure daily well-being and to avoid the risks of being detected and the punitive responses that follow. The chapter proposes that where the concepts of citizenship and rights are unlikely to be satisfied for those who need them most, the analytical lens must shift from a normative understanding of rights to the interface between the practices of border control and migrants' strategies. Understanding in/visibility is introduced as a strategy to help discern the power dynamics that affect their social conditions and the consequences for policy advocacy.

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“…Conceived in this way the Panopticon is not only a building it is rather a schema which can be used for characterizing many aspects of society. Discussing the subject of visibility and control, Gordon (2002) provides an insightful example of how panopticism has been appropriated in the modern workplace by drawing our attention to the creation of cubicles such as office space in most institutions. Just like its counterpart the Panopticon, in the cubicle the potential of being constantly seen creates a disciplined office employee through individual subjection.…”

Section: Panopticismmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Surveillance and cultural Panopticism’: situating Foucault in African modernities

Mungwini¹

2012

South African Journal of Philosophy

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In philosophical terms, the African encounter with Western modernity defines the context within which much of what unfolds in postcolonial Africa can be understood, including even its ethical and social problems. This work utilizes Foucault's theory of panopticism to reflect on the challenges of social control and harmony in contemporary African society. It establishes the link between panopticism and indigenous African cultures from the fact that indigenous societies deployed mechanisms of instituting social control and harmony similar to the phenomena of panoticism and the technologies of control that it symbolizes today. African metaphysical thought, its beliefs, and mythological paraphernalia played the important role of providing an overarching framework within which questions of social control, relations, ethics and even harmony with nature were defined and understood in the past. Modern institutions and technologies of surveillance, whilst crucial to social control, may need to be supported by re-strengthening indigenous interpretive and normative cultural frameworks that promoted elements of self-surveillance and responsible being in traditional communities. IntroductionFoucault's 'Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison' remains an important text for theorizing discourses of surveillance and social control in modern societies. The question of how indigenous African cultures that were without modern technologies of surveillance managed to institute control of the individual and achieve social order and harmony in society inspires much of this discussion. This work utilizes Foucault's theory of panopticism and juxtaposes it with African indigenous cultures in order to reflect on the challenges of social control and harmony confronting contemporary society in Africa. It establishes the link between panopticism and indigenous African cultures from the realization that indigenous societies deployed mechanisms of instituting social control and harmony similar to the phenomena of panoticism and the technologies of control that it symbolizes today. The work suggests that indigenous African culture, through its metaphysics, was vested with a considerable amount of panoptical

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On Visibility and Power: An Arendtian Corrective of Foucault

Cited by 72 publications

References 15 publications

A dynamic conceptualization of power for sustainability research

A dynamic conceptualization of power for sustainability research

10 Strategic Invisibility as Everyday Politics for a Life with Dignity: Guatemalan Women Migrants’ Experiences of Insecurity at Mexico’s Southern Border

‘Surveillance and cultural Panopticism’: situating Foucault in African modernities

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