Body, Knowledge, Subjectivity

Body, Knowledge, Subjectivity
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Body, Knowledge, Subjectivity
Foucault’s Docile Bodies is basically part of his larger work titled Discipline and Punish, wherein he argues that people are under regular and continuous regulation and surveillance in ways that are usually subtle. In so doing seemingly indiscernible, result in acceptance and normalization of such systems. In this paper, a strong argument is presented as to why it is imperative to pay attention to body, embodied identity as well as reality when discussing knowledge and subjectivity. This argument is made in reference to Docile Bodies by Foucault.
In Docile Bodies, Foucault starts with the model of the soldier in the 17th century. This soldier could be easily recognized in both action and body. In this period, the docile body is subjected, exploited, changed and enhanced. In essence, Foucault’s definition of a docile body is that it is a body which might be subjected, exploited, altered and enhanced, and this particular docile body could be attained only by means of stringent regiment of punitive acts (Foucault, 1991). He centers on the body chiefly as the sight of regulation, or more particularly, as a target and an object of power. The concept of docility – the point upon which both the manipulable body and the analyzable body are linked – is utilized in illustrating the way that people within their bodies are subjected to institutional rules, discipline and order.
In the 18th century, docility signified a different type of control given that the economy of the body became significant. The mode of control connotes nonstop, continuous coercion that is applied in accordance with a codification which divides space and time. These techniques are the disciplines; methods used to control the operations of the body which inflicted a relation of docility-utility. The body is the subject of attention. The body is subject to forces of control and discipline. Foucault examines a number of technologies which not only control, but also affect the body (Muller, 2013). Docility is attained using the actions of discipline. It is notable that discipline is dissimilar from violence or force primarily because it is a method used to control the positions and operations of the body. Foucault discovers the origins of discipline in armies and monasteries, and this is essential. It is noteworthy that drill exercises practiced in the military and monastic rules which typically control how monks behave both highlight compliance to regulations and self-discipline, although from different starting points. In the 18th century and 17th century, institutions such as hospitals, schools as well as prisons operated similar to machines for controlling and changing people. For these institutions to do this, they fixed people in both space and time.
The organization of people in space essentially works consistent with defined regul...