Foucault from www.whatknows.com

Why post about Foucault in a WiFi Blog? Well, being a social psychologist, I have come to known countless studies that, drawing from a foucauldian perspective could talk about any imaginable phenomena. I guess this is what happens when a great thinker as Foucault becomes widely read and his perspective is shared and sometimes, it is used as a lingua franca for sociologists, psychologist, meds, criminologists, lawyers, politicians, policy makers, managers, and many others. Indeed, as a popular expression tells;

“If you give a hammer to a child, then, everything becomes smashable. Everything becomes a nail.” (popular)

Therefore, it is no surprise that, all of a sudden, everything was read under a disciplinary paradigm, everything was crossed by power relations. And, IMHO, it was great. But times are a changing (Dylan dixit).

And so did Baudrillard publishing his “Oublier Foucault” in ‘77 @  Steve Lotringers semiotexte editorial project.

Nevertheless, there is always a strange feeling of remembrance, sort of  “I know this story, but, it is such a good story that I can not resist hearing it again”. And I guess that for many scholars that will assist at this seminar this will be the case (There are no entries left). Certainly mixed w/ a will to keep learning about Foucault (Because people being able to explain Foucault  thoughts  with maestry are on short supply these days.)

Going back to the question. ¿Foucault-WiFi? It could be “just”* a matter of focusing on how the object-device (WiFi) [materiality] , the body [anatomy] and the norm (How, Where, When  to use WiFi) [politics?] come together. That is what discipline is  also about; not only distributing bodies into spaces and times but establishing, producing the ways one has to behave vis à vis certain objects. Of course there are many ways of adressing this question, as many as researchers are. Mark Poster developed his particular vision of Foucault and Databases, for instance. (But that is another story…)

See you at the seminar

RAX!

* of curse, taken seriously, if we are to follow Foucault procedures, the answer will need a carefull and detailed review of a large corpus of documents. And, probably, giving an account that does not limit his extension to the “discipline” effects. It seems that for Foucault there is always a duality between the “individual” and “individualisation” practises and the management of popultaion as a whole; as a matter of concern and as a generator of fine measuring instruments to grasp the ever increasing multiplicity that is constantly pouring out of the control mecanisms set up to contain (and legislate) her. The population or policy issues have not been adressed here. But, hey, this is just a post.