The Revival of Bodily Knowledge in Philosophy in an Age of Governmentality and Biopolitics

这个博士项目旨在研究身体表现如何改变关于结构性种族主义的话语。我打算发展对非语言表现如何体现政治意义的理解。在这里，我根据晚期福柯在《知识考古学》（the Archaeology of Knowledge）中概述的方法论，对语言交流和非语言交流进行了区分。福柯将话语理解为“已经说过的”和“未说过的”的结合我试图通过关注话语中体现的非语言部分来扩展批评话语分析的理论基础和概念资源，而现有的批评性话语分析方法通常是分析语言方面。我的假设是，非语言交流传达的意义与语境有着千丝万缕的联系，并影响着话语。我将通过探索人类身体通过手势表达对结构性种族主义的批评的合理例子来证明非语言交流的重要性，手势被理解为表达思想或情感的身体运动，特别是在体育赛场上。研究的一个手势的例子是屈膝或跪着。在历史上，跪拜一直被用于宗教仪式，或作为向更强大的人祈祷的一种表现。然而，这一行为最近成为对结构性种族主义的批判的象征，这是社会政治制度框架内隐含的种族主义。我的项目分析了Colin Kaepernick 2016年的身体表演“拿着膝盖”作为这一现象的一个核心例子，并思考了这个手势在上下文中传递的意义。Kaepernick的表现引起了全球对先前在美国背景下本地化的关于结构性种族主义问题的讨论的关注，例如对少数民族的制度化警察暴行。关于手势历史意义的学术文献已经存在，包括Bremmer等人的《A Cultural History of Gesture》，但非语言肢体分析是一个不发达的研究领域。卡佩尼克抗议的影响是一个研究主题，包括齐林2021年的《卡佩尼克效应》（The Kaepernick Effect）。然而，这项工作并没有将跪的历史意义置于背景中。因此，本文提出发展关于手势意义的学术研究和一种跨学科的方法，通过这种方法可以批判性地分析话语，以更好地理解抵抗结构性种族主义的非语言形式，以及更一般地说，影响话语的非语言形式。

This PhD project proposes to investigate how bodily performance can change discourse regarding structural racism. I intend to develop the understanding of how non-verbal performance can manifest political meaning. Here I draw a distinction between verbal and non-verbal communication which is based on the late Foucault's methodology, outlined in his The Archaeology of Knowledge, in which he understood discourse as a combination of the "already-said" and "non-said".1 I seek to expand the theoretical foundations and conceptual resources of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) by focusing on the embodied non-verbal parts of discourse, whereas existing methods of CDA typically analyse the verbal aspects. My hypothesis is that non-verbal communications convey meanings that are inextricably linked to context and affect discourse. I will evidence the importance of non-verbal communication by exploring reasoned examples of the human body communicating critiques of structural racism through gestures, understood as a bodily movement expressive of thought or feeling, specifically in the sporting arena. An example of a gesture explored is genuflection, or kneeling. Genuflection has historically been utilised in religious liturgy or as a demonstration of supplication to one with greater power. However, this act has recently come to symbolise critique of structural racism, which is racism implicit within the framework of socio-political institutions. My project analyses Colin Kaepernick's 2016 bodily performance of "taking the knee" as one central example of this phenomenon and contemplate the meaning transmitted by this gesture in context. Kaepernick's performance brought global attention to a discourse that had previously been localised within the context of the US, regarding the issue of structural racism, exemplified by institutionalised police brutality against minorities. Academic literature on the historical meaning of gestures exists, including Bremmer et al, A Cultural History of Gesture, but non-verbal bodied analysis represents an underdeveloped research field. The impact of Kaepernick's protest is a topic of research, including Zirin's 2021 The Kaepernick Effect. However, this work does not contextualise the historical relevance of kneeling. Therefore, this thesis proposes to develop the scholarship on the meaning of gestures and an interdisciplinary method through which discourses can be critically analysed to better understand the non-verbal forms of resistance against structural racism, and more generally, non-verbal forms of affecting discourse.