Working vocabulary for Michel Foucault’s critical theory as used in this module.

Methods:

  • Archaeology — analyzing the rules that govern what can be said in a period
  • Genealogy — tracing how concepts emerge through contingency and power

Concepts:

  • Discourse — the rule-governed systems that determine what counts as knowledge
  • knowledge — the mutual constitution of power relations and truth claims
  • Biopower — power exercised through the management of populations as living beings
  • Governmentality — the rationalities and techniques through which populations are governed