Preparing
for this adventure in writing identity I find increasingly that the ground is
much trodden. One assumes that the path or holzweg
one has chosen to follow is the road less travelled by; however, not only
is the path tramped to a brick like consistency, it is as wide as the
Champs-Élysée. My metaphor is drawn from the Parisian thoroughfare as most of
the excursionists are French and more properly classified as flâneurs.
One
of the more impressive flâneur is
Michel Foucault. His The Archaeology of Knowledge is like a blue
print for my approach to Writing and Sign. The idea of discourse or discursive
practices - that systems of
thought and knowledge are governed by rules (beyond those of grammar and logic)
which operate in the consciousness of individual subjects and define a system
of conceptual possibilities that determines the boundaries of thought in a
given domain and period. How do we present and disseminate knowledge in
society? This archaeological approach to writing and sign - aspects of the development
of discourses including texts, terminologies, images, maps, calculations,
experiments and all manner of concepts and cultural practices – is fundamental
to the research. The ‘signs’ define who we are and yet they only “represent what is asserted as truth by the
people and institutions who control language, and reality can’t exist outside
these discursive frameworks”.
Is this truly the case? I will have
three years to find out.
I hope your French is up to the
following:
This is in English - follow the links:
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