On “Power-Knowledge”

One requires knowledge to do almost anything be it as simple as a task of preparing tea or carving masterpiece jewellery. The know how gives one the edge which also determines one’s power but then again, one also requires power to exercise that knowledge. Well, that is the way I see it. Say, I am well versed in the production skills of a publication but what good is knowledge if I cannot exercise it due to many reasons like the lack of platform or diminishing readers in a society (discourse and economy)? My knowledge would be futile and thus, contrary to what my teachers kept ranting in middle school, ‘Knowledge is not Power’. Rather, we can see that these two variables run parallel. Also, “power-knowledge” has a limited radar of frequency but of course different frequencies (micro-relations) could amalgamate into a single ray of light for instance, “governmentality” (NSA).

In Enemy of the State, Robert Dean (I wonder if it has something to do with Mitchell Dean) is revealed by his newfound friend Gabriel Byrne that he’s wired and how his each step is being monitored. He’s further enlightened about how the entire system works as he realizes how institutions like NSA can track individuals and their lives by surveillance without their knowledge. This suggests the controlling power of the self and the “bio-political” exercised by the modern society, which Foucault suggests, is a “carceral continuum”. Dean thus realizes from many instances (credit card, the phone trace and all) that he doesn’t govern himself but the new knowledge and his platform (Bryne) helps him set his own ‘code of conduct’ and to such an extent, that he aligns himself with the notorious bureaucracies. Thus, Dean is able to insert the hyphen in the “power-knowledge” equation and suddenly, the threat reverses as the Enterprise finds itself in the wrong side of a gun.

Power thus recreates and to quote Dylan, “…he’s only a pawn in the game.”

~ by deadkid on July 22, 2008.