Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

When I read my first Corpus over, I realized that I had phrased it in the form of a confession. I took the opportunity to analyze why I had done that. The first thing that came to mind was I wanted people to have a context for what I was talking about. I really didn't want to come off like I was talking about things that I had no idea about. The next thing that ran through my mind was that the beauty parlor and the barber shop weren't just about being able to go somewhere and have someone style your hair or do your nails. They were places to go and find a sense of community. I was told once that if you wanted to find out about somebody in a small town, go talk to either the bartender or the person who does hair. When I remembered that I started to think about the places that people are somehow expected to confess. The first and most obvious place is in church. Another place is a taxi.  It's my opinion that there's a few factors that contribute to this phenomenon. One is that fact that the driver isn't looking at you. Another is how the taxi looks almost like a confessional. You get in the back and start talking to a person. A taxi driver once told me that he could tell what to ask someone by where they were going. If they were going to the airport or some other place where they would be traveling to another destination then they would want to talk more and about more personal issues. He didn't mind because it meant he got to talk to some interesting people. Which makes me wonder about how traveling can make for some strange compaionships. If anyone has ever taken a trip on a Greyhound, you might know what I'm talking about. If you're traveling for any significant distance, you can make some amazing friendships that may or may not last.

Another aspect of confession that I was thinking about was the need that some people have not only to confess but to question people in their life. On one hand I do have an understanding that they might be looking for commonalities or want to express an interest in the other person. On the other hand, if they are asking questions that the other person isn't comfortable answering or they're revealing too much information about themselves for the other person's comfort level.

It sits. Patiently, waiting for beings to enter its domain. To sit, inside, and be transported from one destination to the next. This large, rectangular object. Groaning, as it waits. I sit inside a structure meant to house those waiting for transportation. To shelter from gloominess that envelopes us. Mounted on the clear walls are items that appear to give us information about the rectangular object, sitting just outside. Numbers indicate a schedule of sorts, and routes at which the vehicle stops. Few beings are around. One being studies the information and hesitates, before asking another being inside the vehicle, appearing to be in control of it. The being asking questions walks away from area in another direction. Soon another being approaches the shelter, hesitates, and waits inside as well. Scratches and dim paint are scattered across the glass windows, as if once slightly removed or covered. No smoking. Yet the ground is covered in the remains of items once lit, now forgotten. More beings pass by, choosing not to wait.

Here's my essay on Foucault and his use of the word technology.

on power

My paper is attached.  It is about "discourse."

Foucault said "...one does not confess without the presence (or virtual presence) of a partner..." (pg 61) On Rosh Hashannah the Jewish new year (actually one of four Jewish new years) there is a ritual called tashlikh during which members of the Jewish community take pieces of bread and throw them into a river, lake, ocean, etc. to symbolize casting off the sins of the previous year, to begin fresh for the new year.  Each piece of bread a person throws symbolizes a different sin, but you don't have to tell anybody what the sin is, it can remain a secret.  But this is still a form of confession that fits Foucault's definition, because the virtual presence is G-d in this case.

On Yom Kippur the Jewish day of atonement there is a ritual that is performed three to five times through out the day depending on the congregation, in which everyone confesses to the same sins.  The congregation chants together a list of the sins that we all commit.  The list is something along the lines of: forgive me for the wrongs I have committed through lies, forgive me for the wrongs I have committed through acts of violence... and it goes on for several pages.  I interpertet it as a ritual of admitting humanity.  Since these are things that everyone has to confess to, perhaps it is just in our nature to be imperfect.  However, that doesn't mean we should ignore the things we do wrong, even if we are never perfect, we all have room for improvement.  

So these are two rituals that are both about sin, but comes from a position of getting rid of them, and the other comes from a position of embodying them in order to over come them.

What is this space?

Full of objects physical, stacked and organized, rows and aisles, labeled, branded; a system of order. A temporary affront to entropy. Also a transient victory over chaos. Thus a place of interest, of necessary observation, examination, analysis, synthesis, legend, myth, worship, and perhaps conquest.

Has chance or intent created this arrangement of matter in space? See here the fluid, fluidious creature putting this here and that there. A staggered stack, straightened; a misplaced piece, reset; a fallen object, resurrected. Only consciousness is so audacious as to impose order upon a universe where the relentless destruction of order is immutable law.

Movement of these (presumed) conscious creatures : grabbing and nabbing and picking and touching these objects in rows and aisles. Sometimes taking, keeping, holding some piece against their body. Then a trade, an exchange, green paper or many-colored plastic. And a machine that eats these. And a creature that tames the machine that eats these. The plastic is regurgitated. Something has been gained and something has been lost. But what? The audacity of imposed order is inevitably coupled with the expectancy of purpose. What is this purpose?

To use the word "discourse" in a Foucaultian  sense, the body's discourse with  doors shapes what is expected of the body.  It must be within a certain range of heights, and able to push a certain amount of weight.  The handicapped door is a creation intended to help those who are differently-abled.  Which it successful at being.  Handicapped doors are important for allowing people of different physical abilities to use public spaces.  But, it is also tool for categorization.  To use the handicapped door is to submit to being "other." An accepted abnormal within society.  The existence of the handicapped door is essentially a statement that there are those whose existence is accepted, but still considered abnormal.  To use the handicapped door is in a sense a public confession to being abnormal.

The idea of going to the pharmacy as confession is an intriguing one, especially since now there are mail order prescription services, which minimizes the number of people who are confessed to.  

Last week for the beauty shop wanderings I investigated the bookstore. I began my study by moving through the store noticing the people and set up of the store itself and the items within. The store was set up very systematically. For those who enjoy spending their money on useless but definately "must haves" there is a whole area of that type of stuff when you first enter the store, imediately attracking attention. Then the store is seperated into several sections: evergreen school propoganda(golf balls, mugs, stuffed goey ducks, etc.), school supplies, computer supplies, clothing, intrest books and school books. There was an information desk in the middle of the store, with people willing and waiting to answer questions or help. The store seemed very easy to navigate within, especially for those people who come into the store with something specific in mind. There is also a large sale section that is somewhat in the middle of the store, where people can gather random things they might eventually need, at a discount. It's interesting the way the school supplies and the school books are on complete opposite sides so that people are forced to walk through the other areas on their way from one to another. This seems like a set up to attempt them to spend more money because as they pass through they might see something else they need or just want. Along with a place of purchase the bookstore seemed like a place of meeting. There were a few small groups of people who had randomly ran into each other and then proceded to have conversations, perhaps introducing their companion to the new addition. There were lots of smiles coming from these groups of people. Smiles, laughing and conversation from the people who meet or came in together. The people who came in by themselves usually looked more concentrated or were frowning. They seemed to know more what they wanted then those who were gossiping and wandering throughout the store. 

I can't get it into PDF format for some reason, but here it is...