Anita Seppä

The Aesthetic Subject and Power: Exploring the Usefulness of Foucauldian Tools in Feminism Anita Seppä

This study explores the usefulness of Michel Foucault's theoretical tools in feminism, especially in questions concerning the aesthetic subject. The overriding emphasis in my investigation is on question: How does Foucault's analyses of the subject, together with some contemporary feminist insights, offer explanations of how individuals may escape the homogenizing tendencies of power in modern societies through the assertion of their aesthetic constitution of their selves. In addressing this issue I on the one hand seek to investigate how the aesthetic constitution of the subject relates to questions of the politics of identity and representation, of the body, and of power, and on the other hand, how aesthetic (re)formation of the subject could function as a source of critical action and resistance. My basic thesis is that even though there are some gender problems in Foucault's insights, his theorizations nevertheless offer a set of useful tools for critical analysis of the current problems suffered by women, and even provides some practical suggestions that might help to recreate our ideas concerning the formation of our female subjectivities and selves.