ABSTRACT
One of the ideas underpinning this book is the importance of regulation. With regulation comes particular ways of understanding and being in the world. In order for schooling to be effective, children need to be managed in particular ways, and to be taught to manage themselves in ways that are socially acceptable. One of the objectives of mass schooling is to produce citizens whose productivity, skills, and values are fundamental to the economic and social stability of the country in which they live. Apartheid South Africa presents an interesting case in point about how the management of the population worked to construct particular kinds of subjectivities. These subjectivities are proving a challenge to reconstruction in a post-apartheid world. To illuminate the ways in which people are managed and regulated, and the ways they resist regulation, this section presents a case study of the apartheid system and its management of populations. This case study aims to do two things: it locates the educational institutions in my research in a broader and complex context and it begins to show the ways in which South African subjects have been constituted. In order to do this, Foucault’s understanding of how power works to govern populations needs to be briefly outlined because it is through this lens that the apartheid state will be read. Underlying all of Foucault’s work on power is a preoccupation with how subjects are constructed and construct themselves. He says that modern power is marked by the rise of biopower. Bio-power operates on two axes (see Figure 4.1 for a visual representation). The first is the ‘anatomo-politics of the body’ (Foucault, 1978: 138). This simply means that power is directed at individuals and onto their bodies. Directing disciplinary techniques at the body increases its capabilities, especially its economic utility, and ensures docility. Learning to write is an illustration of this. The techniques for learning to write require mastery of the body (e.g. sitting upright, holding a pen). Being able to communicate through writing is a requirement to function in a modern economy. This is the focus of the second part of this chapter – the regulatory techniques that teachers use to manage their classes. The second axis of bio-power is the ‘bio-politics of the population’ (Foucault, 1978: 139). The welfare of the population is central here. Bio-politics addresses the social, cultural, geographic, and environmental conditions under which people are governed. Government, for Foucault, is not just about state management and political structures; it is also how individuals govern themselves and how groups are directed. Government is a means of shaping our behaviour according to a set of norms. If we are going to govern ourselves and shape the conduct of others we need to think about how we do this. The way we think about governing is referred to as governmentality – the mentalities of government. This thinking is influenced by knowledge and belief systems of our communities and societies. These thoughts become
embedded in practices and institutions, like education, that shape our conduct. The way we govern is based on what we take to be true, but we also produce new truths in the way we govern. But, what we believe to be true may not be in the best interests of everyone in the population. This is where an important point about power needs to be made: it is dangerous and full of possibilities, ‘the instrument of oppression and of liberation’ (Gallagher, 2008: 147). Dean (1999) talks about one form of oppressive power manifesting itself as authoritarian governmentality. Authoritarian governmentality sees certain citizens as being deficient, lacking responsibility, and needing close management, as opposed to liberal forms of governing that assume people are free and have the ability to govern/manage themselves, as well as to take part in the collective as responsible citizens. The apartheid state is an example of authoritarian governmentality where bio-political racism manifested itself. Dean (1999: 140) puts it starkly when he explains that bio-political racism is ‘a way of thinking about how to treat the degenerates and the abnormals within one’s own population and prevent the further degeneration of the race’. Bio-political racism affects how individuals are managed (anatomo-politics of the body) as well as how a population is broken down into racial groups to be managed differently (biopolitics of the population).
