Foucault Darkness is meant to conceal, light is me Essays

Foucault Darkness is meant to conceal, light is meant to expose, and there is power intrinsically imbued in both of these. Murderers hide in the dark, waiting for their victims, and the atrocities of different countries are hidden in history and official memos and propaganda. At the same time, light exerts power because it illuminates, it discovers, it creates vulnerability on all it touches. These powers, however, do not simply exist; they are forged within every aspect of life, even the very structures that people live in. Low-income tenement apartments are built so that they are not seen, colored in a drab shade of gray or brick, build alongside one another so that they blend into the background. They have small lawns and even smaller windows so that people walking by cannot get a glimpse of the life inside; darkness is used to hide their sad reality. Victorian mansions, however, do not need to shroud themselves in darkness. Their almost treeless lawns, small front gardens, an d large picture windows are meant to illuminate their wealth, showing it off for the entire world to see. Beginning in the eighteenth or nineteenth century, the nature of punishment began to change. Slowly, the spectacle of justice which accompanied the public executions and torture of the Middle Ages began to recede farther and farther away from the public into the fringes of society as the institution of the prison began to take shape. Hidden by both distance and structure, the large stone/concrete walls and small windows kept the reality of the prison well hidden from the general public. The prisons succeeded in separating the normal from the abnormal, the law-abiding from the delinquent without bringing any great attention to it. Although the outside of the prison was meant to conceal, the inside was meant to illuminate; the prison was not meant merely to confine convicts, but also to keep a watchful eye on them, to keep them separate from one another and to keep them consta ntly under surveillance. Rather than the massive, binary division between one set of people and another, it called for multiple separations, individualizing distributions, an organization in depth of surveillance and control, an intensification and a ramification of power (Foucault). Instead of merely a holding cell, the prison became an instrument of subjugation, distinguished by the control it exerted over the inmates ' corporeal being. Visibility was exercised on the prisoners themselves, ensuring that even if their mind resisted, their bodies would be forced to obey. The separation, subjugation and surveillance of prisoners became the device through which order was maintained; prisoners were separated so they did not conspire, watched in case they needed medical attention, and monitored to make sure that they were not hiding contraband or trying to escape. The transition from spectacle to prison can be traced to a much larger trend throughout history. With the outbreak of the plague in Europe at the end of the seventeenth century, the need for separation and observation became more important than ever. In response, a system of individualization and observation was created to monitor and account for people in an attempt to establish and maintain control. In response to the dwindling power of the monarch and the further distribution of power throughout society, the Panopticon became a way to transfers the corporeal power exerted by the king himself to the ever watchful eye of those who supported him (police, guards, royal court, etc) and maintained his power. Designed to allow for these anonymous and numerous individuals to maintain power through their constant observation, the Panopticon was conceived of as a circular building with bands of equally sized and spaced windows running along both the inside and outside walls. These windows allowed light to enter the rooms, revealing the silhouette of the person confined within. In the center of this str ucture, a guard tower was placed from which any number of supervisors at any time could observe each individual confined within their cell. Taking an indefinite number of people, the Panopticon separates them from each other so that they may be observed, individualized, watched and therefore controlled. The crowd, a compact mass, a locus of multiple exchanges, individualities merging together, a

Entitled The Effects of the Gilded Age.

Entitled The Effects of the Gilded Age. The term "Gilded Age" refers to the post-Reconstruction era in the late 1800's. The phrase originally began with Mark Twain. Gilded means "covered with a thin layer of gold," and so the Gilded Age implied that while this time period seemed to be a prosperous one for America, only a thin layer of prosperity covered the poverty and corruption of the time period. While many labels have been used to describe the time period, the "Gilded Age" is the most accurate when describing the time period.The largest economic issue concerning in the Gilded Age was determining the Federal government's role in the business sector of America. In the late 1800's, businesses operated for the most part without government regulation. This hands-off approach to economic matters is known as "Laissez-fare," and holds that government should play a very limited role in business. This was the predominant economic theory in the late 1800's, but it quickly acquired opposing factions.English: Political cartoon crea ted for the cover o...Supporters of this strategy maintained that if government does not interfere, the strongest businesses would succeed and bring wealth to the nation as a whole. Opponents of this theory proclaimed that if government did not regulate the business sector, it would become corrupt.The strongest political issue of this time involved the spoils system, in which elected officials appointed friends and supporters to government jobs, regardless of their qualifications. Politicians liked the spoils system because it ensured them a loyal group of supporters in future elections. However, government as a result was filled with unqualified, dishonest employees. This issue was made pertinent during the brief Garfield administration. Garfield was elected primarily through Stalwart Republicans, the faction of the Republican Party that was a strong advocate for the spoils system. A man named Charles Guiteau, who was a strong supporter of the...

The contribution of partnerships in the promotion of global health Essay

The contribution of partnerships in the promotion of global health equality - Essay Example 3). This paper is therefore geared to discuss how partnerships have impacted global health equality by analysing the effective constituents of the partnerships and key strategic and policy drivers. In order for partnerships the health sector to work, there must be development of policies and strategies which govern most of their aspects. These policies are crafted for adoption at all levels of the organization and integrated within the strategic goals. When two partners come into an agreement or understanding, their cooperation of working together should be under the auspice of common goals and objectives. Alignment of goals and vision also requires have employees that have similar set of skills in order to address their common objectives. All these agreements between partners in partnerships should be carefully delineated under the strategies and policies that guide the working of healthcare organizations (Labontà © and Gagnon 2010, p. 8). Like in all organizations and companies that work within the public sphere, leadership and governance is an important aspect of partnerships. In matters pertaining to health equality strategies, there should be governance and leadership structures which enable accountability to be entrenched leading to compliance. Governance in this case alludes to the agreed modalities of decision making and sharing of authority or power is to be configured and organized. This should not only be left to the low levels of employees but also at the top so that concerns of health equality may be integrated within policies. This ensures that effective performance and management of activities within the health care system are streamlined and implemented easily. Both governance and leadership structures put in place should have the capabilities of mobilizing resources and stakeholders at the grass root levels. Such