Power, Space and Resistance: Foucauldian Reading of The Pickup

Abstract

The present article is an attempt to read NadinGordimer’sThe Pickup form the lens of Foucault. It starts with Foucault’s assumption that power is everything and any kind of relation in the world is defined through the discourses of power. It discusses the techniques through which the power dominates its authority over the subjects and, in this case, speaks of the spatial distribution of the individuals in the special spaces as a technique to promote the operation of the power. In this position, the individual who is limited to a special space has been expected to submit the spatial discourses however there has been always some opportunities for resistance as Foucault mentions “where there is power, there is resistance”. Going along such an idea, this article now seeks to find the main agent in process of labeling a subject as the resistant character; it aims to prove that it is space which defines the boundaries of either subjugation or resistance of an individual rather than power that has been considered as the only dominant presence.

Keywords: Foucault, Power, Space, Spatial Distribution, Spatial Discourse, Resistance