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Governmentality, Biopolitics, and Curriculum Theorizing

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Power, Curriculum, and Embodiment

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Abstract

This chapter develops an analytical framework for curriculum studies through synoptic analysis of Foucault’s theorization of governmentality and biopolitics. The chapter discusses contemporary coercive accountability discourses as a system of governmentality and concludes with Foucault’s analysis of the development of counter-conduct, which suggests that governmental systems contain spaces in which to contest, subvert, and reconfigure institutional power. The embodiment of counter-conduct in systems of biopolitical governmentality illustrates the subjective struggle noted by Pinar through which academic study contributes to the reconstruction of the self and the social.

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Burns, J.P. (2018). Governmentality, Biopolitics, and Curriculum Theorizing. In: Power, Curriculum, and Embodiment. Curriculum Studies Worldwide. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68523-6_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68523-6_2

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-68522-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-68523-6

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