A
discourse, according to Foucault, is an authoritative form of speech. A discourse doesn't simply
speak: it speaks with power and credibility, in a context in which what it says is taken to be
accurate and truthful. Because a geology professor has the institutional backing of his
university, for example, when he speaks about rock formations, people are primed to believe him,
because he is the designated expert.
Discourse can set the frame and
boundaries of a subject and use its power to decide what can and cannot be said in a topic.
Modern economics, for example, may take certain portions of well-being, such as happiness, off
the table, when discussing the impacts of economic growth.
Said calleda
discourse could because it functioned as a way for the Western nations to dominate "the
Orient," a huge swathe of land that went from Egypt and Turkey to India to Japan to China.
The West spoke about the "Orient" with an authority that was unquestionable while at
the same time...
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