Foucault’s Thought

Michel Foucault was a French philosopher and historian of ideas who was born in Poitiers in France in 1926 and died in Paris in 1984. Since his death his work has had a steadily increasing impact across the social sciences and humanities, generating new research methodologies, new areas of empirical interest, and a whole panoply of theoretical concepts. Foucault produced some 11 books during his lifetime and a collection of 364 of his shorter writings was published in 1994. From 1970 to 1984, in his capacity as Professor of Systems of Thought at the research institution the Collège de France, he also produced an annual series of lectures reporting on his research. These lectures have gradually appeared in print since 1997. This entry provides an overview of Foucault’s overall philosophy and methodology, looks at key concepts in his work and provides descriptions of his best known books.

(Neo)Liberal doses of inequality : advance Australia where?

The relationship between social background and achievement has preoccupied educational researchers since the mid-20th century with major studies in the area reaching prominence in the late 60s. Despite five decades of research and innovation since, recent studies using OECD data have shown that the relationship is strengthening rather than weakening. In this paper, the systematic destabilisation of public education in Australia is examined as a philosophical problem stemming from a fundamental shift in political orientation, where “choice” and “aspiration” work to promote and disguise survivalism. The problem for education however extends far deeper than the inequity in Federal government funding. Whilst this is a major problem, critical scrutiny must also focus on what states can do to turn back aspects of their own education policy that work to exacerbate and entrench social disadvantage.

Foreword

In 1978, three years after the publication of Foucault’s book Discipline and Punish, which famously introduced Bentham’s notion of the Panopticon to a wide audience, the French historian Jacques Léonard remarked that ‘it would need a squadron of competent historians to sort out the mass of interpretations’ offered by Foucault’s work. In response, Foucault said that he wanted his work to provide a workshop which would allow both himself and others to undertake further work and experiment with different approaches. He also cheerfully noted that he was encouraged by the ‘irritating effect’ that his work produced on others. The present book, which comprehensively treats the work of Bentham both in the wake of and against Foucault’s work, is a cogent testimony to the continued currency of these observations.

Performance government : activating and regulating the self-governing capacities of teachers and school leaders

This article analyses ‘performance government’ as an emergent form of rule in advanced liberal democracies. It discloses how teachers and school leaders in Australia are being governed by the practices of performance government which centre on the recently established Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) and are given direction by two major strategies implicit within the exercise of this form of power: activation and regulation. Through an ‘analytics of government’ of these practices, the article unravels the new configurations of corporatized expert and academic knowledge—and their attendant methods of application—by which the self-governing capacities of teachers and school leaders are being activated and regulated in ways that seek to optimize the performance of these professionals. The article concludes by outlining some of the dangers of performance government for the professional freedom of educators and school leaders.

Double helix conformation, groove dimensions and ligand binding potential of a G/C stretch in B-DNA

The self-complementary DNA fragment CCGGCGCCGG crystallizes in the rhombohedral space group R3 with unit cell parameters a = 54.07 angstrom and c = 44.59 angstrom. The structure has been determined by X-ray diffraction methods at 2.2 angstrom resolution and refined to an R value of 16.7%. In the crystal, the decamer forms B-DNA double helices with characteristic groove dimensions: compared with B-DNA of random sequence, the minor groove is wide and deep and the major groove is rather shallow. Local base pair geometries and stacking patterns are within the range commonly observed in B-DNA crystal structures. The duplex bears no resemblance to A-form DNA as might have been expected for a sequence with only GC base pairs. The shallow major groove permits an unusual crystal packing pattern with several direct intermolecular hydrogen bonds between phosphate oxygens and cytosine amino groups. In addition, decameric duplexes form quasi-infinite double helices in the crystal by end-to-end stacking. The groove geometries and accessibilities of this molecule as observed in the crystal may be important for the mode of binding of both proteins and drug molecules to G/C stretches in DNA.

Reproducción de Tarjeta de visita de Eliodoro de la Torre.

Fecha: s.f. (>1970 reproducción) / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 25 - Expediente 23-5 / Nº de pág.: 1 (mecanografiada)

Reproducción de las autorizaciones entregadas al canónigo Alberto Onaindia por el E.B.B. y el Gobierno de Euzkadi para entablar negociaciones con el Gobierno italiano.

Fecha: 3-7-1937 (>1970 reproducción) / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 45 - Expediente 1-1 / Nº de pág.: 2 (mecanografiadas)

Reproducción de las Condiciones de Capitulación en Santander de las fuerzas vascas ante las fuerzas italianas.

Fecha: >1970 reproducción / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 45 - Expediente 1-4 / Nº de pág.: 3 (mecanografiadas)

Informe titulado "Antecedentes del "Pacto de Santoña". Narra las negociaciones establecidas entre representantes del Gobierno de Euzkadi e italianos con el fin de llegar a una Paz negociada para Euzkadi.

Fecha: 11-5-1937/8-1937 (>1970 reproducción) / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 45 - Expediente 1-5 / Nº de pág.: 87 (mecanografiadas)

Informe titulado "Rendición del Ejército Vasco en Santander".

Fecha: 1937 (>1970 reproducción) / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 45 - Expediente 1-6 / Nº de pág.: 62 (mecanografiadas)

Informe titulado "Las Causas de la Rendición del Ejército Vasco en Santander".

Fecha: 4-10-1937 (>1970 reproducción) / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 45 - Expediente 1-12 / Nº de pág.: 17 (mecanografiadas)

Listados de políticos y combatientes vascos destacados durante la Guerra Civil en Euzkadi.

Fecha: 30-9-1971 / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 48 - Expediente 9-15-1 / Nº de pág.: 2 (mecanografiadas) / Signatura: BIB-23

Memorias tituladas "Mi campaña proselitista", sobre las actividades de Juventud Vasca durante la II República.

Fecha: >1970 / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 48 - Expediente 8-10 / Nº de pág.: 5 (mecanografiadas)

Copia de una carta remitida por la Secretaría de Estado del Vaticano al Vicario General de Barcelona, José María Torrent, en la que se informa al último de la actitud a seguir ante la propuesta del Ministro de Justicia de la República, Manuel de Irujo, de apertura de iglesias al culto.

Fecha: 29-12-1937 original (>1970 copia) / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 48 - Expediente 8-9 / Nº de pág.: 3 (mecanografiadas)

Recopilación de artículos sobre la Guerra Civil publicados por "Deia" en el diario del mismo nombre, y en el suplemento semanal dominical del mismo. Contiene completos los suplementos número 243, 244, 255, y recortes sueltos de otros. Como autores destacan Ruiz de Aguirre, que escribe artículos con el título "La ruta de Santoña", y Koldo San Sebastián, que escribe sobre el Gobierno Vasco en Santander, y los niños evacuados al extranjero.

Fecha: 26-3-1981/18-7-1983 / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 48 - Expediente 8-5 / Nº de pág.: 67 (mecanografiadas)