ABSTRACT
Foucault offers a new way of understanding the complex experiences of children with special needs in mainstream schools and this chapter explores his contribution in both substantive and methodological terms. The strengths and weaknesses of a Foucauldian approach are considered, and it is argued that each of Foucault’s analytical phases, archaeology, genealogy and ethics are helpful in analysing special needs. Furthermore, Foucault offers a number of strategies within his ‘box of tools’ (Foucault, 1977a:208) in order to undertake the analysis. One difficulty, however, is that Foucault never conducted any of the empirical work that he insisted was necessary. Thus, the application of Foucault’s ideas to special needs has required some creativity and the inspiration of other theorists, most notably Derrida (1972; 1990) and Bhabha (1994). The development of the analysis and the emergence of themes has been made explicit, in the hope of encouraging other researchers to ‘add Foucault and stir’ (Shumway, 1989:161).
