The micropolitics of control in the spaces of circulation

Abstract

This dissertation examines the complex nature of contemporary captivity—the micropolitics of control—through delineation of older and newer apparatuses/dispositifs of capture, especially as it relates to the unquestionable virtues of being-in-public, characterized by appearance, transparency and circulation. The micropolitics of control calls for a critique of control perceived not as an external agent or structure imposed unidirectionally but as a co-productive and participatory assemblage, where norms, demands, and disciplinary mechanisms intertwine with desires, dreams of liberation, and longings for a different sociality. In other words, the task is not merely to ask what are the structures, infrastructures, and govern/mentalities of control but also why and how control and domination become desirable. What starts and is tested with the military and industrial demands ends up in social proliferation, not because it is merely demanded by the people but because it is introduced as a measured response to economic and political dynamics, giving overall competitive advantages. What is at stake, is the misrecognition of normalizing, domesticating and interpellating power of apparatuses for discursive and practical interventions in search of radical change.