Place in discourse
From Geography
Foucault as a constructivist contributing to poststructuralist thought wanted to evolve the grand narrative of total history (revolving around a centre) to general history (the fragmented view below) using genealogy to find the general history. He found the construction of powerful knowledge in discourse. Discourse is powerful, the language of those who are in power. Power is used to make subjective truths to a 'objective' norm to the subjected 'believers'. It is closely related to mechanisms of in- and exclusion.
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practice
Discourse is about the production of knowledge through language (Hall, 1997, p. 44). It is (re-) produced through social practices (ibid.) and therefore place specific: Where certain languages are spoken in a certain way they carry place- and context- specific meaning. Therefore meaningfulness is only given inside a discourse because discourse is always related to where its meaning comes from (ibid., p. 45) Place in discourse seen from a Foucault-ian philosophical perspective thus has to do with the constructed nature of discourses, which are spread through space (“thus creating meaningful space, which is meant by the word place”). People in Iran for example are likely to be subjected to a different religious discourse from people in America based on different religious discursive frames. Examples are as endless as is the reconstruction of discourses. Diverse discursive regimes are subjected more frequently by people (ibid., p. 56) who in a certain period frequent certain institutions, who thus share sets of certain practices at certain sites in space – places. This might be a university for discourses on education, as it might be a bank for discourses around money. The discourse is subjected to by subjects within these spaces and places. Their views and behavior are subjected to the discourse(s) of their environment (ibid., p. 56), which shows that discourse is sensitive to place. Moreover the idea is, that discourses “produce a place for the subject” (Hall, 1997, p. 56) which is linked to the ideas how a subject is produced by discourse. A place is given to the subject by the discourse in which the subject can position itself. As this means that the subject becomes a bearer of power and knowledge of the discourse (Hall, 1997, p. 56), the place- producing by the discourse is an important factor to the reproduction and continuation of the discourse itself.
Example
Places in discourse should have a specific meaning for the subject within the discouse. An example is the discourse of supporters from rivalising football clubs. For the home team their stadium is the homebase, the place where these supporters can spread the love for their club. The supporters from the visiting team see the stadium as something completely different. They probable see the stadium as inferior and that somebody should just tear it down. They act a lot more hostile in a different stadium.
Reference
Hall, S. (1997). Where is the subject?. In S. Hall (Ed.), Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices, 54-56. Milton Keynes: Open University.
Hall, S. (1997). Discourse, Power and the Subject. In S. Hall (Ed.), Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices, 41-45. Milton Keynes: Open University.
Contributors
- Janna Völpel s3015041 already written in october 2011 13:15, 8 May 2012 (CEST)~
- edited by Jordi de Leeuw, 26 october 2012
