Michael Foucault & Donna Haraway – Group 9
by:Sabreena, Kathryn, Laurence and Ryan
The body is a tool that can be used and controlled in many different ways, Discipline used to obtain power being the central focus of what these two texts are based upon.
In Foucault’s writing "Discipline and Punishment: The Birth of the Prison", discipline is the central idea on which all three selection of text is based upon. He describes the hierarchy of our social and political system, our hospitals and educational institutions. The method of embedding and nesting is an underlying principle in his quest for order “Discipline must be made national”.
“Walhausen spoke of “strict discipline” as an art of correct training”; Foucault refers to the military as the primary basis for discipline, both physically and mentally. The image of a solider throughout centuries has depicted a sense of strength and power; but with every strength, comes a weakness that is equally powerful “it reverses the course of the energy, the power that might result from it, and turns it into a relation of strict subjection”; in other words although the soldier may appear powerful he is limited to abilities he can perform because he must obey a higher authority, thus constraining his powers.
One example of this method that is portrayed in the form of media is the assimilation that the Borg species tries to replicate.
“The Borg or Borg Collective are a group of cyborgs in the Star Trek fictional universe. They are known both within and beyond Star Trek fandom for their relentless pursuit of what they want to assimilate, their rapid adaptability to almost any defense, and their ability to continue functioning after what may seem a devastating or even fatal blow seemingly unaffected. As such, the Borg has become a powerful symbol in popular culture for any seemingly unstoppable force against which "resistance is futile".
“A Cyborg Manifesto”
According to Haraway, a cyborg is the separation between our organic and artificial creation. She believes that the human race is increasingly adopting cyborg characteristics, integrating behavioral patters of a cyborg into our everyday lifestyle.
She talks of three boundary breakdowns relating to a cyborg, the boundary between:
Human and animal
Animal and machine
Physical and non-physical
Our intellectual side is slowly diminishing which will in turn lead to the destruction of humanity. As a society today we are becoming more dependant on modern day technology, one can not going a day without “logging on”, “downloading” or “texting”, we have become part of a greater network. The more machine one uses the less “human” one seems to be, you become dependant on the technology.
In relation to the two authors; Discipline, order and power are all present, the body’s capabilities is related to society and its surroundings.
Relating to Foucault and the military: the military dominates then incorporates to make one coalition much like the Nazi Germany structure.
Cyborgs bring order-military bring order- feminist bring order (trying to bring back the rights of women and equalize).
It can be said that one can not have something (a method) that is completely universal without having to exclude something. We can not argue that technology is cutting us off if we embrace it.
The body is a tool that can be used and controlled in many different ways, Discipline used to obtain power being the central focus of what these two texts are based upon.
In Foucault’s writing "Discipline and Punishment: The Birth of the Prison", discipline is the central idea on which all three selection of text is based upon. He describes the hierarchy of our social and political system, our hospitals and educational institutions. The method of embedding and nesting is an underlying principle in his quest for order “Discipline must be made national”.
“Walhausen spoke of “strict discipline” as an art of correct training”; Foucault refers to the military as the primary basis for discipline, both physically and mentally. The image of a solider throughout centuries has depicted a sense of strength and power; but with every strength, comes a weakness that is equally powerful “it reverses the course of the energy, the power that might result from it, and turns it into a relation of strict subjection”; in other words although the soldier may appear powerful he is limited to abilities he can perform because he must obey a higher authority, thus constraining his powers.
One example of this method that is portrayed in the form of media is the assimilation that the Borg species tries to replicate.
“The Borg or Borg Collective are a group of cyborgs in the Star Trek fictional universe. They are known both within and beyond Star Trek fandom for their relentless pursuit of what they want to assimilate, their rapid adaptability to almost any defense, and their ability to continue functioning after what may seem a devastating or even fatal blow seemingly unaffected. As such, the Borg has become a powerful symbol in popular culture for any seemingly unstoppable force against which "resistance is futile".
“A Cyborg Manifesto”
According to Haraway, a cyborg is the separation between our organic and artificial creation. She believes that the human race is increasingly adopting cyborg characteristics, integrating behavioral patters of a cyborg into our everyday lifestyle.
She talks of three boundary breakdowns relating to a cyborg, the boundary between:
Human and animal
Animal and machine
Physical and non-physical
Our intellectual side is slowly diminishing which will in turn lead to the destruction of humanity. As a society today we are becoming more dependant on modern day technology, one can not going a day without “logging on”, “downloading” or “texting”, we have become part of a greater network. The more machine one uses the less “human” one seems to be, you become dependant on the technology.
In relation to the two authors; Discipline, order and power are all present, the body’s capabilities is related to society and its surroundings.
Relating to Foucault and the military: the military dominates then incorporates to make one coalition much like the Nazi Germany structure.
Cyborgs bring order-military bring order- feminist bring order (trying to bring back the rights of women and equalize).
It can be said that one can not have something (a method) that is completely universal without having to exclude something. We can not argue that technology is cutting us off if we embrace it.
posted by sabreena at 10:12 AM
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