Proefschrift--Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 2005. / Résumé en anglais. Bibliogr. p. 204-212.

Zugl.: Dresden, Univ., Diplomarbeit, 2005. / Hergestellt on demand.

This thesis examines the visa mechanism deployed by governments on state borders. I take the Canadian temporary residence visa system experienced by Chinese applicants as my working example. Though the visa system is generally regarded as something essential and efficient for border control, I argue that it only gains its power to judge people’s admissibility from the government’s routinized authority and deemed expertise to deploy the border control mechanisms. The visa system is a realm where governments practise their power on the bordering population and visa applicants are made into subjects of the visa regime. Didier Bigo’s (2005) model of ban-opticon is used as my theoretical model to analyze the Canadian temporary resident visa system in this thesis. Mirroring Bigo’s description of the ban-opticon, I first analyze how the legitimacy of visa system is constructed by the discourse of in-securitization of migration, which, by rendering the migrating population inherently dangerous to the sovereign states, legitimates and necessitates the deployment of border control mechanisms. Also, I argue that the legislation surrounding the Canadian temporary resident visa system not only regulates the operational procedure, but also naturalizes the Canadian government’s expertise in selecting admissible people. Lastly, from the Canadian visa application experience of 9 Chinese applicants, I analyze how the applicants’ admissibility is decided by the visa officers based on their interpretation of the applicants’ identity documents and prediction of the applicants’ future behaviour. Though some means of negotiation are embedded in the mechanism, their existence actually proves that the evaluation system itself is not determinate. As I conclude, the discourse of in-securitization of migration, the related legislation of the visa system, as well as the real-life practices in the process, as the three elements of the ban-opticon on the border, are all at play in the visa regime, jointly making visa applicants into subjects of the government’s power practice on the border. / Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2009-10-15 09:56:48.306

This thesis seeks to unpack the notions of Michael Foucault's late work on governmentality and what insights it might have for understanding the ‘governing of nature’. In doing this it also operates as a critique of what is often termed 'resourcism', a way of evaluating nature which only accounts for its utility for human use and does not give any acceptance to the idea of protecting nature for its own sake, or any conception of a nature that cannot be managed. By utilizing a study of the govern-mentalities emerging throughout liberalism, welfare-liberalism and neoliberalism I argue that this form of 'knowing' nature-as-resource has always been internal to rationalities of liberal government, but that the bracketing out of other moral valuations to the logic of the market is a specific function of neoliberal rationalities of governing. I then seek to offer an analysis of the implications for this form of nature rationality, in that it is becoming increasingly globalized, and with that bringing more aspects of nature into metrics for government, bringing new justifications for intervening in ‘deficient’ populations under the rubric of ‘sustainable development. I argue, that with this a new (global) environmental subject is being constructed; one that can rationally assess nature-as-resource in a cost-benefit logic of wise-use conservation. This acts to both marginalize those people that have alternative understandings for our relationship with nature is destructive to nature itself, further embedding the more-than-human into the economic rationality of neoliberal resourcism. / Thesis (Master, Environmental Studies) -- Queen's University, 2011-09-28 19:06:20.246

Human sexuality is a product of sociocultural and historical constructs. In modern, contemporary society, pornography has emerged as the dominant form of sexual discourse, transforming the human body as an object to be manipulated, shaped, and trained. In this thesis, I will argue that pornography is the vehicle for disciplinary practices that transforms human bodies into sexual bodies that are mere representations of itself. As Michel Foucault describes it in Discipline and Punish (1977), discourse does not function all by itself to produce effects of power, but, rather, the efficacy of discourse is tied to the systematic and calculated use of force by definite agents on definite human bodies. Modern pornographic sexual discourse is only part of a power-knowledge formation that includes subtle and often direct coercion over the body. Men acting as sexual partners extract from pornography a ‘knowledge’ of sexuality that they use to organize their personal domination over women, in order to turn women into docile bodies that learn to adopt various positions or gestures. Even though, if discipline is successful, coercion is minimized, economized, to generate the maximum effect of control through the minimum expenditure of force, a force that never disappears completely. When society is saturated with pornographic representations as a normative standard, which in turn operates as an ideal to which people ‘voluntarily’ aspire, it is only because of the operation of this efficient economy of force, which goes mostly unnoticed. Perceived as a natural, innate human characteristic, sexuality is instead a social construct, where all of the body’s movement, gestures, and attitudes are manipulated, and thus obedient to a pornographic ideal of sexual experience that is limited in its heteronormative expression.

Human sexuality is a product of sociocultural and historical constructs. In modern, contemporary society, pornography has emerged as the dominant form of sexual discourse, transforming the human body as an object to be manipulated, shaped, and trained. In this thesis, I will argue that pornography is the vehicle for disciplinary practices that transforms human bodies into sexual bodies that are mere representations of itself. As Michel Foucault describes it in Discipline and Punish (1977), discourse does not function all by itself to produce effects of power, but, rather, the efficacy of discourse is tied to the systematic and calculated use of force by definite agents on definite human bodies. Modern pornographic sexual discourse is only part of a power-knowledge formation that includes subtle and often direct coercion over the body. Men acting as sexual partners extract from pornography a ‘knowledge’ of sexuality that they use to organize their personal domination over women, in order to turn women into docile bodies that learn to adopt various positions or gestures. Even though, if discipline is successful, coercion is minimized, economized, to generate the maximum effect of control through the minimum expenditure of force, a force that never disappears completely. When society is saturated with pornographic representations as a normative standard, which in turn operates as an ideal to which people ‘voluntarily’ aspire, it is only because of the operation of this efficient economy of force, which goes mostly unnoticed. Perceived as a natural, innate human characteristic, sexuality is instead a social construct, where all of the body’s movement, gestures, and attitudes are manipulated, and thus obedient to a pornographic ideal of sexual experience that is limited in its heteronormative expression.

Äldrevården i Sverige har under de senaste decennierna genomgått en rad organisatoriska förändringar, bland annat genom införandet av New Public Management (NPM). NPM innebär mer fokus på ekonomisk effektivitet och ställer därför nya krav på mätbarhet och operationalisering. I ett försök att möta dessa krav och öka effektiviteten inom hemtjänsten har systemet TES implementerats. TES är ett planeringsverktyg som registrerar alla besök hos kunder samt planerar dagliga insatser utifrån tid och resurser. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka och få en förståelse för hemtjänstpersonalens beskrivningar av det tidsstyrande planeringsverktyget TES. Uttryckt mer teoretiskt är vårt syfte att undersöka om TES kan förstås som en form av disciplinering och övervakning av hemtjänstpersonalen. Det empiriska material som ligger till grund för studien skapades genom en kvalitativ undersökning i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer. I studien deltog åtta respondenter från fyra olika hemtjänstenheter i Uppsala kommun. Foucaults teorier om makt och maktskapande mekanismer används vid analysen av materialet för att närmare undersöka TES roll i hemtjänsten utifrån ett maktperspektiv. Respondenterna beskriver TES på ett sätt som gör att verktyget genom Foucaults teorier går att tolka som en maktutövande instrument med syfte att disciplinera personalen och effektivisera verksamheten. Respondenterna upplever att arbetet med TES och den hårda tidspress som verktyget medför skapar stress och har en negativ inverkan på de sociala relationerna på arbetsplatsen och även på kvaliteten på kundomsorgen.  Vidare går det i deras beskrivningar att utläsa att TES kan påverka maktstrukturerna och förstärka hierarkin inom hemtjänsten. Verktyget beskrivs även bidra till att personalen känner sig övervakad och kontrollerad. Flera av de intervjuade medger också att TES medför ett antal positiva effekter, bland annat att det ger mer struktur åt arbetet. Det framkommer dock i resultatet att de negativa aspekterna väger över och att systemet överlag verkar bidra till en försämrad arbetsmiljö.

I intend, with this thesis, to investigate how Michel Foucault's concept of ???a positive unconscious of knowledge??? can be illustrated by overlapping narrative segments. I have coined the term ???friction???, as a writing practice, to describe the space in-between narrative conception and conscious, ordered reflection upon that narrative. Thus, the thesis comprises an exploration of Foucault's intersecting marginal zone, which is an integral aspect of his philosophic concept of ???positive unconscious???. The ???positive unconscious??? is where the overlapping sections of what Foucault calls, a ???table??? (creative narrative) and ???tabula??? (the ordering of the narrative) are situated. The frictional form is synonymous with Foucault's concept. It is as a developing narrative conception that becomes an ordered practice, and also aims to be what Jacques Derrida calls ???a new writing???. Hence, Foucault's ???positive unconscious???, Derrida's ???new writing???, and the frictional narrative process all comprise, along with and through the multiple inclusions of myriad theorists, philosophers, fiction writers, lyric poets, etc., an amalgamated whole ???new??? narrative (the frictionalised thesis). The paradox of the ???new??? (frictional) narrative is that through mimesis comes characterised difference - a ???new??? hybridised space is opened up which both fascinates and appals, railing as it does against fixed, constraining and systematised linguistic and discursive structures. Yet this is a stimulating space that ultimately brings new focus to stifling self-conformity. It is a frictional space comprised of a profusion of literary ???voices??? made singular, a singularity that is also mutiplicitous in its composite origin. It is a frictional observance that refutes the injunction of needing definite closure given its inclusion of potentially unlimited sources.

This thesis develops a theory of action, drawing chiefly on the work of Hannah Arendt and Michel Foucault. I begin with a discussion of some popular theories of action. As I argue, these theories tend to suffer from three problems: they do not distinguish action from everyday behaviour, they do not account for the way in which action transforms the identity of the actor, and they tend to neglect the innovative and initiatory character of action. In chapter two, I discuss Arendt’s theory of political action, which goes a long way toward redressing these problems. However, the value of Arend's work is limited by her characterisation of the public sphere as subsumed by a 'social' rather than political form of community. Accordingly, I follow Dana Villa and Bonnie Honig's suggestions that a broader understanding of action is required in order to overcome the weaknesses of Arendt's work. In chapters four and five, I demonstrate that a reading of Foucault can yield just such a broader understanding. I begin with an analysis of The History of Sexuality and the argument that the transformation of ethical subjectivity can function as a means of resistance to the normalising effects of power, before moving on to discuss the essay 'What Is Enlightenment?' I argue that these works are part of a 'transformative project,' in which Foucault aims to facilitate the transformation of subjectivity as a means of resistance to social normalisation. This transformative project can be adapted into a theory of action that locates action within contemporary society but shares some of the best aspects of Arendt's theory. Finally, drawing on the work of Foucault and Adriana Cavarero, these theoretical reflections are applied to a discussion of action in the context of small communities. Small-community models of action are an important consideration because they allow us to avoid the traditional dichotomy between action as a task for the individual who transgresses social norms and action as a project of social reform.

Zugl.: Münster (Westfalen), Univ., Diss., 2007