Foucault, Borges, Heterotopia: Producing Knowledge in Other Spaces

Authors

  • Robert J. Topinka University of Kansas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i9.3059

Abstract

Arguably the most famous heterotopia that appears in Foucault’s work is the Chinese encyclopedia, which originates in the fiction of Jorge Luis Borges. Drawing on this citation of Borges, this article examines Foucault’s notion of the heterotopia as it relates to order and knowledge production. Frequently, heterotopias are understood as sites of resistance. This article argues that shifting the focus from resistance to order and knowledge production reveals how heterotopias make the spatiality of order legible. By juxtaposing and combining many spaces in one site, heterotopias problematize received knowledge by destabilizing the ground on which knowledge is built. Yet heterotopias always remain connected to the dominant order; thus as heterotopias clash with dominant orders, they simultaneously produce new ways of knowing. This article first explores the tensions between Foucault’s two definitions of heterotopias before connecting these definitions to Foucault’s distinctly spatial understanding of knowledge as emerging from a clash of forces. Finally, the paper ends by returning to the relationship between Foucault, Borges, and heterotopias.

Author Biography

Robert J. Topinka, University of Kansas

Robert J. Topinka is a graduate student at the University of Kansas. His interests include material and technological culture, the production of space, and rhetoric. His work has also appeared in Mediterranean Studies. His current project explores the relationship between suburban space, consumption, and everyday life.

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Published

2010-09-01

How to Cite

Topinka, R. J. (2010). Foucault, Borges, Heterotopia: Producing Knowledge in Other Spaces. Foucault Studies, (9), 54–70. https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i9.3059

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Section

Articles