Power/Knowledge in Literature & Literary Theory

Power/Knowledge: Etymology, Meanings, and Concept

Term: Power/Knowledge

• Foucauldian Origin: A key concept developed by French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault, examining the inextricable link between systems of knowledge and the exercise of power within society.

Central Tenets

• Rejection of Knowledge Neutrality: Foucault challenged the notion of objective or politically neutral knowledge. He argued that prevailing knowledge systems are shaped by, and serve to reinforce, existing power dynamics.
• Power’s Productive Dimension: Power, within a Foucauldian framework, is not only repressive but also productive. It shapes what is considered “truth” through disciplines, institutions, and forms of knowledge that categorize, regulate, and discipline individuals and populations.
• Discourse as a Tool of Power: Discourses – encompassing language, systems of thought, and institutional practices – create, legitimize, and disseminate specific knowledge forms that shape individual subjectivities and social order.

Implications of the Concept

• Decentralizing Power: Foucault’s work shifts the focus from identifying singular holders of power toward an analysis of how power operates diffusely through knowledge production and circulation.
• Knowledge as Contested Terrain: What constitutes legitimate knowledge is a dynamic site of struggle, reflecting social and political power dynamics.
• Critical Analysis of Institutions: Foucault’s framework encourages critical scrutiny of institutions like medicine, law, education, and social sciences, which play a central role in constructing and enforcing dominant knowledge systems.

Power/Knowledge: Definition of a Theoretical Term

Power/Knowledge is a concept developed by Michel Foucault that investigates the interconnectedness of power and knowledge production. It posits that knowledge is never neutral but is shaped by existing power structures. Power, in turn, uses knowledge systems to categorize, control, and produce certain truths that maintain its dominance.

Power/Knowledge: Theorists, Works and Arguments

Theorist	Influential Work	Core Argument
Michel Foucault	Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (1975) The History of Sexuality (1976-1984) “Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews & Other Writings 1972-1977” (1980)	Examines how knowledge systems within institutions (like prisons, medicine) create categories that discipline and control individuals. Analyzes how discourses about sexuality produce and regulate individual identities and behaviors. Directly outlines the interconnected nature of power and knowledge.
Edward Said	Orientalism (1978)	Argues that Western scholarship about the Middle East (“the Orient”) is a form of knowledge that reinforces colonial power structures and creates a distorted image of non-Western cultures.
Judith Butler	Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990)	Explores how prevailing discourses about gender and sexuality shape and confine what society considers “normal” gender identities and expressions.
Critical Race Theorists	Various Works & Legal Analyses	Analyze how knowledge systems (including historical scholarship and legal frameworks) have constructed racial categories and work to uphold systems of white supremacy.

Power/Knowledge: Major Characteristics

1. Power as Productive: Power is not simply a repressive force that prohibits or controls. It actively shapes knowledge, produces categories (like ‘normal’ vs. ‘deviant’), and defines what we consider to be “truth”.
2. Knowledge as a Tool of Power: Knowledge is never neutral or objective. It is influenced by and serves existing power relationships. Knowledge systems serve to legitimize particular power structures and regulate social behavior.
3. Decentralized Power: Power doesn’t solely reside with individuals or specific institutions. Instead, it operates through a diffuse network of discourses, practices, and knowledge forms present in various aspects of society.
4. Focus on Discourse: Discourse, how we use language or systems of thought to convey meaning, is central to the operation of power/knowledge. Discourses within institutions, disciplines, or cultural texts create a framework for what constitutes acceptable knowledge and shape individual identities.
5. Power/Knowledge as Dynamic: The relationship between power and knowledge is constantly evolving. Those in power seek to control and shape knowledge, but there always exists a potential for resistance, contestation, and the emergence of alternative forms of knowledge.

Power/Knowledge: Relevance in Literary Theories

Literary Theory	Relevance of Power/Knowledge	Example
Postcolonial Theory	Examines how literary texts, both by colonizers and the colonized, construct knowledge about colonized cultures. These representations often reinforce power imbalances and perpetuate harmful stereotypes.	Analysis of how Western adventure novels depict the Middle East as exotic and dangerous, justifying colonial domination.
New Historicism	Focuses on how literature both reflects and contributes to the power dynamics operating within its historical context.	Examining how 19th-century British novels reinforced ideologies tied to Britain’s imperial projects.
Feminist Theory	Analyzes how literary works construct and challenge dominant knowledge systems about gender and sexuality.	Exploring how novels by women authors resisted traditional gender roles and offered alternative visions of female experience.
Critical Race Theory	Investigates how race and racism are represented in literature, and how these representations uphold or challenge systems of racial inequality.	Analysis of how slave narratives exposed the brutal reality of slavery and provided counter-narratives to dominant justifications of the institution.
Queer Theory	Analyzes the ways in which literary texts construct, reinforce, or subvert dominant understandings of sexuality and gender identity.	Examining how LGBTQ+ literature presents alternative models of desire and challenges heteronormative narratives.

Power/Knowledge: Application in Critiques

1. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

• Power/Knowledge Focus: Examining how the theocratic Republic of Gilead uses religious discourses, control over women’s bodies, and strict systems of surveillance to consolidate patriarchal power and suppress dissent.
• Analysis Points:
  • How knowledge about fertility and reproduction is controlled and manipulated.
  • The use of Biblical language and rituals to legitimize Gilead’s oppressive regime.

2. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

• Power/Knowledge Focus: Analyzing how the novella both reflects and critiques European colonial ideologies of the late 19th century.
• Analysis Points:
  • How the narrative constructs Africa and its inhabitants as “Other,” justifying exploitation.
  • Whether the novel ultimately subverts the racist knowledge systems it depicts.

3. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

• Power/Knowledge Focus: Investigating the relationship between scientific knowledge, the pursuit of power, and the ethics of creation.
• Analysis Points:
  • How Victor Frankenstein’s ambition and scientific knowledge lead him to violate boundaries.
  • The interplay of Enlightenment rationality and Romantic fears about the unintended consequences of knowledge.

4. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

• Power/Knowledge Focus: Exploring how Janie Crawford navigates and challenges power structures related to race, gender, and class within her community.
• Analysis points:
  • How Janie’s search for self-expression and agency is shaped by social expectations.
  • The power of language and storytelling, particularly within Black vernacular traditions.

Key Considerations:

• Author’s Context: Consider the historical moment of the work’s creation and the author’s own positionality.
• Specificity: Focus on specific textual elements (language, characterization, symbolism) that reflect the power/knowledge dynamic.
• Ambiguity: Literary texts are often complex; a power/knowledge analysis can reveal how the work itself might be complicit and critical of certain power structures simultaneously.

Power/Knowledge: Relevant Terms

Term	Definition
Discourse	Systems of language, thought, and institutional practices that construct and disseminate knowledge about a particular topic.
Ideology	A set of beliefs and ideas that shape an individual or group’s understanding of the world, often justifying existing power relations.
Subjectivity	The process by which individuals are shaped by, and internalize, dominant knowledge and power systems, forming their sense of self and identity.
Normalization	The process by which power/knowledge systems enforce specific behaviors and ways of thinking as “normal” while marginalizing others as “deviant.”
Discipline	Foucauldian term for the ways that institutions use mechanisms of surveillance, examination, and regulation to control individuals and populations.
Hegemony	The dominance of one group or ideology over others, often achieved through consent rather than overt force.
Resistance	Strategies and actions that challenge or subvert dominant power/knowledge systems.
Counter-Narratives	Narratives or forms of knowledge that offer alternative perspectives to those imposed by dominant power structures.
Genealogy	A Foucauldian method for tracing the historical development of knowledge systems and power relations, uncovering their contingent and shifting nature.
Biopower	Power exercised over populations through control of life processes (birth, health, mortality), often through state institutions and medical knowledge.

Power/Knowledge: Suggested Readings

1. Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. Penguin Books, 1972.
2. Debord, Guy. Society of the Spectacle. Black & Red, 1967.
3. Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish. Vintage Books, 1977.
4. Foucault, Michel. Power/Knowledge. Edited by Colin Gordon. Pantheon Books, 1980.
5. Herman, Edward S., and Noam Chomsky. Manufacturing Consent. Pantheon Books, 1988.
6. Machiavelli, Niccolò. The Prince. Dover Publications, 1532.
7. More, Thomas. Utopia. Penguin Classics, 1516.
8. Nietzsche, Friedrich. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Penguin Classics, 1883-1885.
9. Said, Edward. Orientalism. Vintage Books, 1978. Tzu, Sun. The Art of War. Oxford University Press, 5th century BCE.