Proponent/Claimant
Jeffry Ocay
Abstract
This paper attempts to reconstruct Michel de Certeau’s critical engagement with Michel Foucault’s theory of power by highlighting the way in which de Certeau tasks the subject to tactically oppose the dominant logic of power. This is inspired by the idea that for de Certeau, as opposed to Foucault’s contention that it is almost pointless to talk about subjects as active agents who can subvert the totalizing effects of power given that there can be no possibility of a logic of resistance outside of power, there is always a remainder to this general logic of power, a silent but transgressive subject who maintains her reserve in the confines of her private life. Thus, following de Certeau, the paper argues that although subjects are always formed and transformed, shaped and reshaped through power, and that the possibility of a logic of resistance outside of power is seemingly next to impossible, there is always an outside to power, which means that strategic power can always be subverted and that even the most totalizing site of oppression can be a site of liberation. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part reconstructs Foucault’s theory of power, with emphasis on the way in which power forms and produces the subject. The second part briefly reconstructs de Certeau’s engagement with Foucault’s theory of power. As we can see, this part highlights the way in which de Certeau tasks the subject to tactically oppose the dominant logic of power.
Name of Research Journal
PHAVISMINDA Journal
Volume and Issue No.
Volume 19
Date/Year of Publication
2020
Citation
Ocay, J., & Ladero, A. C. Reinventing the Subject: Michel de Certeau’s Engagement with Michel Foucault.
