ABSTRACT
A discursive formation can be seen as a system of statements that “set the context in which constitutive statements are held to . . . be ‘true’ ” (Rice, 1992, p. 339). For Foucault, “truth” is an “ensemble of rules . . . [and] a system of ordered procedures for the production, regulation, distribution, and operation of statements” (1980, pp. 132-133). In essence, a Foucaultian genealogical inquiry seeks to trace the “descent” and “emergence” of new discursive formations and to chart a discourse’s lineage across the path of contradictions and logical discontinuities, particularly the “accidents, chance, passion, petty malice, surprises . . . and power” (Davidson, 1986, p. 224) that foster discursive formations (Rice, 1992).
