The text does such a good job of laying out the major epistemes (?) of knowledge privilege! the transition from "God" rule - which I always read as "father" rule, transitioning to scientific rule, to an increasing "man" rule". I'm particularly interested in how this shifting epistemes alter language. Society seems so stuck on the correct definition of everything, without giving any thought to the political, economic and/or cultural history of a word or concept.
One of my classes this quarter is focusing on welfare policy. For my homeowrk this week, I read an essay that traced the word "dependency" throughout history, illustrating its transition through the god episteme (that supported dependency as a natural condition of ruler/serf relations, scientific episteme (which privileged those who joined the working economy), to the current masculine defined sense of dependency which relies on old expectations of coverture and slavery. For me, this really shows how power is rationalized through social interactions, creating subjects that rely on the illusion of independence to help ourselves feel a bit of power. Gloomy, huh?
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would love to read that essay if you have the cite or pdf.
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