This thesis traces the use and abuse of genealogy, from Friedrich Nietzsche to Edward Said. After elucidating Nietzsche and Michel Foucault's coherent configuration of the genealogical method in their own philosophical projects, it critically deconstructs and rejects the claim that the post-colonial thinker in Edward Said's book 'Orientalism' is a genealogy in a similar sense to Nietzsche and Foucault. The rejection of Said's texts and Orientalism's status as a genealogical history is premised on a critical analysis of Said's misreading and negation of key Nietzschean and Foucauldian concepts such as power, discourse and the body. Following a rejection of the post-colonial appropriation of genealogy, this thesis concludes by suggesting some revisions for a more coherent deployment of genealogy in post-colonial theory through a closer reading of the relationship between the body and power, with regard to the question of subjectification.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/20134 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Naicker, Veeran |
| Contributors | Blond, Louis |
| Publisher | University of Cape Town, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Religious Studies |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master Thesis, Masters, MSocSc |
| Format | application/pdf |
Page generated in 0.0022 seconds