Foucault News

Frias, F.J.L., Dattilo, J.
The influence of power on leisure: Implications for inclusive leisure services (2021) International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18 (5), art. no. 2220, pp. 1-14.

DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18052220

Abstract
Many people experience domination as they encounter oppression and marginalization because of power differentials limiting their leisure. We rely on Foucault for guidance to examine connections between power and opportunities for people to be included in leisure and recognize that, like Foucault, we experience privilege. Considering such privilege, we explore power and people connections, scrutinize ways power influences leisure, and examine methods to promote or resist power to increase leisure. Drawing on the analysis of power and leisure, we examine how discourse influences leisure and identify ways to facilitate inclusive leisure. We consider these aspects via Allen’s (1998) modalities of power-over, power-to, and power-with. Analyzing these modalities, we address barriers to leisure associated with power, strategies people use to engage in resistance through leisure, and ways inclusive leisure might occur. We conclude that each person can make positive contributions and offer inclusive leisure. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Author Keywords
Foucault; Inclusion; Leisure; Power

Kim, J.
Rethinking public administration and the state: a Foucauldian governmentality perspective
(2021) International Review of Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1080/12294659.2021.1889102

Abstract
Public administration as a field of study (PA) has long suffered from a chronic identity crisis. Against such a background, by adopting Michel Foucault’s governmentality perspective, this paper critically examines the key assumptions and orientations of public administration and its relationship with the state. The basic arguments are that PA’s silence about the nature of the state has led to the chronic identity crisis and that PA has yet to offer a coherent vision for redefining itself in the context of governing the state and for constituting and engaging the citizens, especially in their counter-conducts amid the governing practices of public administration. Based upon such arguments, it proposes to redirect our attention to the exercise of power across the administrative encounters and explores a future direction for rethinking administrative practices. © 2021 The Korean Association for Public Administration.

Author Keywords
conduct; counter-conduct; governmentality; Public administration; the state

Minca, C., Rijke, A., Pallister-Wilkins, P., Tazzioli, M., Vigneswaran, D., van Houtum, H., van Uden, A.
Rethinking the biopolitical: Borders, refugees, mobilities…
(2021) Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space

DOI: 10.1177/2399654420981389

Abstract
This Symposium reflects on the growing relevance of biopolitical perspectives in camps studies, border studies, refugee studies, and in particular in research at the intersection between mobility studies and political geography. The five interventions accordingly engage with questions regarding the use of biopolitics as an analytical framework, but also as a pervasive strategy and governmental tool in Western societies. Through an analysis of several empirical cases – most notably hotspots on the Greek Aegean Island, refugee’s forced hyper mobility in Europe, speech acts connected to the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people in Myanmar and the ‘voluntary return’ policies in Europe, and the paper borders created by visa systems – the authors indicate new possible fields of enquiry related to the biopolitical critically inspired by the work of authors such as Giorgio Agamben and Jasbir Puar, while also clearly restating the fundamental importance of Foucault’s original contribution to any biopolitical analytical framework today. © The Author(s) 2021.

Author Keywords
Biopolitics; borders; mobilities; refugees

Orsini, G., Smit, S., Farcy, J.-B., Merla, L.
Institutional racism within the securitization of migration. The case of family reunification in Belgium
(2021) Ethnic and Racial Studies.

DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2021.1878249

Abstract
Institutional Racism (IR) in Europe is rarely mentioned in studies of race-based discrimination. Yet, structural racism occurs within most European societies. Due to the increasing securitization of immigration, countries have introduced several (in)formal strategies to exclude foreign populations. Given that, we propose an updated way of conceptualizing IR to uncover contemporary manifestations and practices of structural racist discrimination in a European country. By concentrating on the case of Belgium and, in particular, on family reunification, we first operationalize Agamben’s “state of exception” to show how exceptional measures applying to non-nationals conflict with other constitutional and international legal frameworks. As we discuss, such incompatible legal tools generate space for racist considerations to drive judicial decisions involving non-nationals. Second, in relying on Foucault’s governmentality, we explore migrants’ everyday experience of administrative discrimination–as the same procedures are implemented differently on foreigners of diverse nationalities. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Author Keywords
Belgium; governmentality; Institutional racism; multilevel; securitization of migration; state of exception