This is a qualitative research project aimed to compare traditional teaching of foreign languages and suggestopedia in order to seek an answer to whether the suggestopedic practice is compatible with traditional school.  The theoretical framework is based on Michel Foucault’s history of ideas of how power has developed over time and how power structures have shaped society, institutions and consequently school. A theoretical review of how language didactics have evolved over the last centuries is added to Foucault’s ideas for the purpose of establishing a definition of traditional teaching.  A collection of empirical material has been carried out by interviewing teachers practicing suggestopedic pedagogy and subsequently analyzed and interpreted from a phenomenological perspective, with a hermeneutic approach. The result of the study shows that school as an institution can be said to consist of an establishment maintained through coercion, control, assessment and ranking, factors that have consequences for how teaching is designed and thereby, as the study shows, implying a risk of leading to insecurity, stress, and anxiety. This seems to stand in contrast to the very basic attitude of suggestopedia which fundamental idea can be summarized in the effort to create an interplay between the subconscious, or passive, learning level and the active, conscious learning level which requires an environment characterized by safety, freedom, and for the student a sense of continually feeling competent. However, according to Foucault, the power structures described in the theoretical chapter pervade all of society why it could be stated that suggestopedia also constitutes a system of power. The comparative analysis could therefore give the impression of being somewhat misleading.  The study does not result in a distinct answer to the question of whether there is room for suggestopedic practice in traditional school but rather discusses prerequisites and possibilities

Finding conceptual tools that lend themselves to the creation of consensus is no easier in an age of mass communication, mass transportation or mass education, than it was in earlier less "modern," technology adventurous, times. In fact, as I argue in this dissertation, modernity can be analyzed and experienced as being anathema to those characteristics upon which consensus can be built. This dissertation examines why this is the case and what may be done to ameliorate the worst excesses of modernity while building on its greatest strengths. / Ph. D.

This dissertation offers an exploration of the field of normative subjectivity circulated within western fine dining traditions. I use the notion of "normative subjectivity" which derives from the work of Michel Foucault. Foucault's emphasis on the use of disciplinary repetition to mold, circumscribe, and modulate the conduct of subjects informs my own argument that fine dining spaces feature a normative regime of subjectivity centered on the hegemonic governance of a figure which I call "Culinary Man." This phrase follows from Sylvia Wynter's account of "the overrepresentation of Man," which describes the colonial field of subjectivity which revolves around a normatively white, male, and European figure of authority. Drawing from these sources, this dissertation seeks to give a theoretical analysis of the governing relationship between the chef (who embodies Culinary Man) and the fine dining brigade (the organizational unit of labor within commercial kitchens). As I argue, Culinary Man deploys a heterogeneous set of disciplinary discourses and practices which have the effect of consolidating monopolies on epistemic authority and governance. Each position within the brigade's hierarchy is subject to distinct, though related, disciplinary practices. Thus, several chapters seek to identify the specific practices pertinent to each brigade subject, while also illuminating how they fit together as a coherent hegemonic project. Additionally, a genealogy, in the style of Sylvia Wynter, is carried out to illuminate points of variance as well as continuity within the figure of Culinary Man. While the bulk of the dissertation seeks to carry out a discursive analysis of Culinary Man's disciplinary regime, there are also moves toward alternative projects which do not replicate the brigade form. The concluding chapters seek to identify where extant modes of resistance or alternative forms of culinary organization may hold the potential to move beyond the hegemonic overrepresentation of Culinary Man. / Doctor of Philosophy / Within fine dining kitchens, work is generally organized by the hierarchical division of labor known as the "brigade." As the name suggests, this formation is modeled on the military, and the chef sits at the top of the brigade's hierarchy. This dissertation explores the relationship between the governing chef and the subordinate brigade of culinary laborers within western fine dining spaces. While the image of the domineering chef is somewhat ubiquitous in popular culture, this project seeks to understand how the authority of governing chefs is rooted in practices and discourses which encourage consent among the brigade, rather than merely compliance. As I argue, the field of fine dining labor is dominated by a particular set of practices, values, and habits which become solidified as norms through repetition. These norms uphold and legitimate the figure of the brilliant, masterful, and authoritative chef (called "Culinary Man") at the expense of the brigade's subordination. Additionally, there are racialized and gendered implications, as the archetype of Culinary Man is a white, male figure. This dissertation offers an exploration of the collection of practices, norms, and discourses which "shape" members of the brigade and direct the ways in which they conduct themselves. Several of the chapters identify particular positions within the brigade's hierarchy and analyze how distinct practices mold the conduct expected of culinary workers. Additionally, a genealogy of Culinary Man explores several different variations or "genres" of this figure. While much of the dissertation endeavors to identify and theorize Culinary Man's governance over the brigade, the last two chapters feature some discussion of models which might potentially move beyond Culinary Man as a normative archetype.

According to Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, our postmodern era and its correlate political problematic requires a shift in positing socialist strategy. Their wager is that by shifting away from essentialist Marxism, and towards a post-Marxist theory of hegemony which they adapt from Gramsci, the analytic for overturning contemporary hegemony will take the form of a radical democratic politics. My contention is that in shifting away from essentialist Marxism through their post-structuralist deconstructive stance, Laclau and Mouffe overstep and make their analytic for socialist strategy impotent. In order to show where Laclau and Mouffe have gone wrong I use primarily the work of Michel Foucault and Slavoj Žižek in order to demonstrate how a post-structuralist theory of ideology need not be a post-Marxist theory of ideology. / Master of Arts

Yes / Discourse analysis is becoming an increasingly common approach in planning and environmental policy research. This paper asserts that the generic treatment of discourse analysis obscures distinct approaches where `discourses¿ can combine different elements of text, systems of thought, and action. Textually-oriented approaches have been more prevalent over the 1990s but this paper explores a different approach, grounded in the theory of Michel Foucault, which broadens discourse to embrace social action. Comparing and contrasting two studies which have utilised this approach, the paper suggests that there is considerable room for variation concerning the subjects of study, the institutional scale of analyses, the methods of investigation, and process of analysis. Nevertheless, this paper identifies certain core elements of a Foucauldian discourse analytic approach. The paper concludes that this emerging approach to discourse analysis promises considerable insights if applied more widely in planning and environmental research.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Club Corporation of America collaborated on a multimedia-training project, Board of Governors: The Cornerstone of a Fine Private Club. This training sought to catalogue all existing support materials and articulate key philosophical and operational systems regarding relationships between Club Managers and the club's Board of Governors, which stands as the leading administrative body for philosophical and operational issues in individual private clubs. This analysis operates on two levels of investigation: 1) a case study that provides a rhetorical assessment of the development and contents of this training system, 2) based on this appraisal, an introduction of theoretical options regarding the development of training applications. Moreover, the theoretical exhortations of Michel Foucault and Augusto Boal provide a language to encourage a different modus operandi in the field of corporate training. By articulating the concept of a "dialogue training continuum," this elucidation strives to offer an alternative when rethinking training systems and their encoded discourses. By analyzing local and institutional knowledges and how those knowledges find shape in this project, this analysis argues that establishing a system where end-users may question and reshape the philosophical discourse of the company during the context of training, the overall milieu has the ability to grow and shape-shift through legitimizing and valuing the voices of all organizational constituents. / Master of Arts

This thesis seeks to explore the viability and limitations for democratic politics found at the intersecting philosophical orientations of Jurgen Habermas's theory of communicative action and (neo)Nietzschean conceptions of an aesthetic, affective ethos of self-formation. Despite his recognition of the pathological hubris of modern, instrumental forms of rationality, Habermas argues that a careful consideration of rationality's full breadth suggests the social potential to reach understandings about our moral-practical problems and our aesthetic-expressive disagreements that could serve as the foundation for a democratically negotiated politics of action. Habermas takes exception to those thinkers .. such as Nietzsche and his heirs - who have abandoned rationality in favor of a disruptive aestheticism that remains bound to a subject .. centered philosophy of consciousness and that lacks the self-critical mechanisms characteristic of rationality's intersubjective potential. The totalizing tendencies of a subject-centered perspective leaves such a thought vulnerable to the mystifying appeals of a demagogic politics, to the pull of commodification, and to the dangers of an unchecked moral relativism. The negotiation of action through consensus that underwrites Habermas's project, however, tends to obscure our right to be different and underthematizes the difficulty that certain voices have in getting to the negotiating table in the first place. By challenging the model of learning that informs Habermas's "ideal speech situation" with variants of Nietzsche's notion of "mnemothechnics," I suggest that resistances to the colonizing advances of instrumental rationality cannot ignore the resources offered by Nietzschean/Foucauldian suggestions about the extra-discursive, affective possibilities for self-formation. William Connolly's vision of an "agonopluralism" suggests that these resources might be deployed within a democratic politics that shares Habermas's concern with an intersubjective system of checks and balances. / Master of Arts

Le concept de gouvernementalité forgé par Michel Foucault est de plus en plus populaire non seulement auprès des philosophes, mais aussi auprès des sociologues, politologues, économistes, anthropologues et plusieurs autres spécialistes appartenant à ce que nous nommons les ±sciences humaines¿. Pourtant, les origines, les recherches et les pistes de réflexion liées à ce concept au sein même du travail de Michel Foucault sont plutôt mal connues. Le présent mémoire tentera d'expliquer ce que signifie ce concept dans les travaux de ce penseur. Nous explorerons plus précisément le parcours qu'emprunta Michel Foucault dans sa théorisation du pouvoir l'amenant vers ses vues généalogiques. / De là, nous analyserons les éléments relatifs au déploiement d'une ±microphysique du pouvoir¿ dégageant les configurations stratégiques du pouvoir de souveraineté, du régime disciplinaire et du biopouvoir. Partant d'une double critique contre l'emploi de cette ±microphysique¿, nous étudierons ensuite l'entrée de l'État dans cette grille d'analyse, menant Foucault à conceptualiser les relations de pouvoir et de subjectivation en terme de gouvernement, de résistance et de pratiques de liberté. En examinant les principaux textes de Michel Foucault, de même que son enseignement au Collège de France entre 1970 et 1984, nous suggérerons que le projet de cette analyse généalogique de la rationalité gouvernementale occidentale -- qui remonte jusqu'aux sources grecques et bibliques -- se veut à la fois le relais, l'approfondissement et le dépassement de ses analyses du pouvoir, du sujet, de la liberté et de la résistance.

The purpose of this study is to investigate which discourse dominates a group conference between parent, teacher and child. My questions to examine are: which discourse can be seen as the dominating discourse based on the texts I use in my study, which subject positions do the main discourse construct and how do subject positions legitimize the discourse? To be able to answer this questions I have studied texts consisting of a pocket of a local order and interviews with four preschool teachers. I have used a discourse analysis inspired by Foucault, with a social constructionistic perspective. My result is based by using the theories of Foucault about discourses, power/knowledge and subject positions. The result of the study shows that the dominating discourse contradicts the dominating discourse of individual conferences in Swedish preschools. According to the discourse the group conference is a meeting where parents, teachers and children meets and having a dialogue about the learning of children. The subject positions are constructed to legitimize this perspective.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.