Political Genealogy After Foucault: Savage Identities

by Michael Clifford

Overview

Combining the most powerful elements of Foucault's theories, Clifford produces a methodology for cultural and political critique called "political genealogy" to explore the genesis of modern political identity. At the core of American identity, Clifford argues, is the ideal of the "Savage Noble," a hybrid that married the Native American "savage" with the "civilized" European male. This complex icon animates modern politics, and has shaped our understandings of rights, freedom, and power.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781135956561
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/11/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Michael Clifford is Associate Professor of Philosophy with the Institute for the Humanities and the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Mississippi State University.

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Introduction: From Noble Savage to Savage Noble; Outline of a Political Genealogy; Part I: The Three Domains of Genealogy; 2. The Subject of Political Discourse; The Discourse of Threat: Hobbes and the Social Contract Tradition; Discursive Regimes and the Order of the Political; 3. Power and the Political Subject; You Are What You Eat: The Perils of Indianization; Disciplinary Power: The Fabrication of Modern Identity; Enunciative Modalities: From Wilderness to Nation; 4. Political Subjectivation and Self-Formation; Technologies of the Self: Sex/Ethics/Politics; The Cultivation of Individuality: J.S. Mill's Manual of Autonomous Selfhood; The Political Spectrum: Liberals, Conservatives, and the Ethics of Toleration; Part II: Against Identity; 5. Governmentality and the Axes of Political Experience; A Matrix of Experience; The State and/of Governmentality; The Political Technology of Individuals; 6. The Most Perfect Freedom; On the polarities of Political Freedom: Rousseau and Nozick; Counter-Memory: Different Freedoms/Freedoms of Difference; Freedom and the Politics of Transformation; 7. Genealogy and Other-Politics: Conclusions, Implications, Applications; The Foucault Conundrum; Political Theory on the Horizon; Bibliography

What People are Saying About This

Rey Chow

Rey Chow, Brown University
A lucid, stimulating, and persuasive account of the emergence of the modern political subject

Charles E. Scott

Charles E. Scott, Penn State University
Clifford's book is an original work of genealogy that provides a critique of modern political identity as well as an expression of an alternative kind of political identity. It is accessible to people in many disciplines, well grounded in historical scholarship, and exceptionally well-conceived. He combines first rate interpretations of Foucault's work with a compelling, constructive account of political identity in the 'new' world. It is a book to enjoy as well to learn from.

Patricia Mann

Patricia Mann, Hofstra University
Clifford's most important contribution may be his bold appropriation of the late Foucault's notion of 'technologies of the self' whereby we fashion ourselves as ethical subjects. Re-reading J.S. Mill's On Liberty as a 'manual for living/subjectivation' Clifford enables us to experience our own self-fashioning as political selves identifying with Mill's ideals of individualism. Most controversially, Clifford maintains that freedom is an issue of identity rather than power, and that through genealogy we can liberate ourselves from forms of subjection, 'always being able to become other than what we are.' Clifford offers a sophisticated political optimism that is welcome in these deflationary times

Homi K. Bhabha

Homi K. Bhabha, University of Chicago
In a fresh and imaginative encounter with Foucault, Michael Clifford restages the central concept of 'genealogy' to explore the mythos of American social life. Tracking the ideological forces of rugged individualism in the spirit of Davy Crockett, Ernest Hemingway, Clint Eastwood, Clifford provides us with a rich genealogy of political subjectivity the Savage Noble. This hybrid figure, both courageous and civil, white and native, will make a fine and fresh contribution to the urgent debates around cultural difference and political identification.

Editorial Reviews

"In a fresh and imaginative encounter with Foucault, Michael Clifford restages the central concept of 'genealogy' to explore the mythos of American social life. Tracking the ideological forces of rugged individualism in the spirit of Davy Crockett, Ernest Hemingway, Clint Eastwood, Clifford provides us with a rich genealogy of political subjectivity—the Savage Noble. This hybrid figure, both courageous and civil, white and native, will make a fine and fresh contribution to the urgent debates around cultural difference and political identification." — Homi K. Bhabha, University of Chicago
"A lucid, stimulating, and persuasive account of the emergence of the modern political subject." — Rey Chow, Brown University
"Clifford's book is an original work of genealogy that provides a critique of modern political identity as well as an expression of an alternative kind of political identity. It is accessible to people in many disciplines, well grounded in historical scholarship, and exceptionally well-conceived. He combines first rate interpretations of Foucault's work with a compelling, constructive account of political identity in the 'new' world. It is a book to enjoy as well to learn from." — Charles E. Scott, Penn State University
"Clifford's most important contribution may be his bold appropriation of the late Foucault's notion of 'technologies of the self' whereby we fashion ourselves as ethical subjects. Re-reading J.S. Mill's On Liberty as a 'manual for living/subjectivation' Clifford enables us to experience our own self-fashioning as political selves identifying with Mill's ideals of individualism. Most controversially, Clifford maintains that freedom is an issue of identity rather than power, and that through genealogy we can liberate ourselves from forms of subjection, 'always being able to become other than what we are.' Clifford offers a sophisticated political optimism that is welcome in these deflationary times." — Patricia Mann, Hofstra University

From the Publisher