Foucault and the heterotopies: space, power-knowledge

Abstract

This article deals with the theme and problem of heterotopy from Michel Foucault's thought, a notion that little explored by him, however, potentially useful for contemporary philosophical thought. In it we show what the French philosopher calls heterotopy (localized utopia / other space) and the way it implies the notions of space, power and knowledge. To this end, we approach Foucault texts especially from the 1960s and 70s. We interpret and report in this way to the heterotopias that are part of Foucault's studies and trajectory: factory-convent, working town, psychiatric asylum, prison and Experimental University of Vincennes. We understand that prison and its mechanisms are the paradigmatic example of a modern heterotopy that still says a lot about us. This indicates, it is worth noting, the complexity and ambivalence of the Foucauldian notion of heterotopy, insofar as it can encompass a series of devices not always related: sometimes, then, a disciplinary institution and a biopolitical space, other times, an experimental university.