Antecedentes Internacionales

Foucault’s (1980) view of power as productive challenged conceptions of power as domination, repression, coercion, and violence. Foucault argued that the exercise of power is not dependent on consent, however, power is accepted because:

118 … [it] traverses and produces things, it induces pleasure, forms knowledge,

produces discourse. It needs to be considered as a productive network which runs through the whole social body, much more than as a negative instance whose function is repression. (p.119).

Foucault (1982) claims that if power is simply a negative or repressive force there would be no incentive to obey. Braidotti (2015) suggests that viewing power negatively or regarding power simply as confining does not give a full picture of the nature of power. Power “covers both negative or confining methods (potestas) as well as empowering or affirmative technologies (potential)” (Braidotti, 2007, p.67). Some feminists have expressed concern that Foucault’s conception of power does not account for violence against women (Deveaux, 1994). Foucault (1982), however, argues that repression and violence are the instruments, or the results, of the exercise of power, they do not constitute the nature of power.

Power is productive and creative, it produces and creates subjectivity, in ways which are creative and self-affirming (Foucault, 1982, 1988).hooks (2014) proposed that power is “creative and life-affirming, definitions that equate power with the ability to act, with strength and ability, or with action that brings a sense of accomplishment”(p.90). She was a long-time advocate for the development of new feminist concepts of power, claiming that some early feminists failed to maintain an unquestioning view of power as domination and control over others. Other feminists offered alternative conceptions of power moving away from the emphasis on strength and domination traditionally associated with masculine conceptions of power, reconceptualising it as “energy and creativity” (Theberge, 1987, p.387). Arguments by Riger (1993), and hooks (2014) objected to limiting women’s expression and exercise of power to normative gendered prescriptions, or confined to limited domains of activity. Riger (1993) argued that

119 whether or not the expressive domain, normatively attributed to women, became more highly valued, women should not be confined to any particular ways of exercising power, but be allowed expression across the full range of possibilities: as strength, relationship, caring, emotion, and reason. hooks(2014) argues that concentrating on any one area of power, for instance, economic power, fails to recognise the diverse ways in which women, and members of excluded groups can exercise their power.

Within community development conceptions of power as productive emphasise emancipatory and transformative notions of power, such as power with, and power to

(Ife, 2016; Kenny & Connors, 2017; Yuval-Davis, 1994), moving away from

conceptions of power as power over, which emphasise negative, and androcentric, views of power as mastery and domination (Ife, 2016). Kenny and Connors (2017)cite many possibilities for women to exercise power productively. These include, but are not limited to, having the power to participate meaningfully in decision-making, having the power to make decisions about their own bodies, being in control of their own

resources including financial resources, having access to education, having the power to plan for their future and make decisions which affect them. Foucault describes resistance as a productive form of power, “a creative process; to create and recreate, to change the situation, actually to be an active member of that process” (Rabinow, 1994, p.168). Women’s agency in making decisions and choices, critically evaluating their beliefs, exercising disbelief towards inferiorising discourses, and changing the ways in which they behave in their everyday lives, is productive power. Women

exercise power as energy, strength, and creativity as they participate in activities which are self- and life-affirming, and contribute to creating more inclusive and equitable communities.

120 Foucault’s (1988) techniques of the self are based on an ancient Greek concept “to take care of yourself” (p.19). They are affirming and productive expressions of power which enable new ways of being and becoming subjects (Braidotti, 2015). Techniques, or practices of the self are concerned with how the self becomes constituted as a subject (Burkitt, 1997).They:

… permit individuals to effect by their own means or with the help of others a certain number of operations on their bodies and souls, thoughts, conduct, and way of being, so as to transform themselves in order to attain a certain state of happiness, purity, wisdom, perfection, or immortality. (Foucault, 1988, p.18)

Practices of the self describe the ability to be self-reflexive in relation to one’s thoughts and behaviour.They are concerned with agency, and with taking responsibility for one’s own thoughts and actions as they are mediated by dominant discourses (Atkins, 2005).St. Pierre (2004) suggests that care of the selfis an active, agentic practice, “a radical freedom that operates not only as choice but also as resistance to self-forming practices” (p.340). (italics in original). Care of the self involves agency, acting within the world, while simultaneously being concerned with relating and behaving ethically and responsibly towards the self and others (Braidotti, 2015; St. Pierre, 2001; Van

Wijnendaele, 2013). Practices of the self are multiple, diverse, and complex, involving “resistance, ambivalence, or accommodation to the codes – including gender, religion, education, kinship, widowhood, and old age” (St. Pierre, 2004, p.343).

Summary

This thesis is concerned with exploring and identifying the ways that Neighbourhood Houses facilitate women’s experiences of empowerment. The theoretical framework of the thesis combines three separate but related conceptions of power and

121 empowerment: a Foucauldian theory of power, contemporary feminist perspectives of power, and community development approaches to power and empowerment.

Empowerment has traditionally been conceptualised using structuralist approaches which viewed power from a top-down perspective and considered power as an entity possessed by elites and institutions. These analyses used binaries which essentialised and positioned people according to powerful/powerless, empowered/disempowered, male/female dichotomies. In this study empowerment is understood as ongoing, dynamic, and embodied, embedded within the micro-practices and relations of women’s everyday lives. Power and empowerment are viewed as discursively constructed and historically and socio-culturally situated and as circulating within all social relations and sites of human activity. While this view of power and empowerment acknowledges relations of power within the practices of everyday life, it does not

presume an absence of unequal power relations. Furthermore, power is conceptualised as productive and creative, containing within it the possibility of resistance, rather than as a negative and totalising force.

The community development approaches explored in this study identify a complex set of integrated and interrelated participatory practices and processes in Neighbourhood Houses. The social and learning environment was responsive to and supported the particular concerns and interests of the women participants and managers. It enabled decision making, fostered confidence building, self and social awareness, and

broadened world views leading to enhanced agency and sense of control in their lives.

The following chapter describes the research design and the methodological

framework of this study. It outlines the epistemological perspective of the study, and reflexively discusses my position and experience as researcher in relation to this study.

122 The chapter identifies the methods used to select and interview participants, and the modes of data analysis used.

123

Chapter Four: Research design

This research focusing on women’s experiences of empowerment in Neighbourhood Houses is situated within the broad theoretical traditions and practices of community development. The research design uses an overall qualitative approach integrating community development, feminism, and poststructuralism. Narrative research practices were used in the data gathering and analysis to provide women with the opportunity to describe and reflect on their personal, everyday experiences in their own words.

The research explores the question, In what ways do women experience

empowerment in the course of their engagement with Neighbourhood Houses? There are two sub-questions:

1. To what extent and in what ways are women participants and managers empowered by their participation and involvement in Neighbourhood Houses? 2. What processes and aspects of community development practice in

Neighbourhood Houses contribute to women’s experiences of empowerment?

This chapter presents the philosophical approach of the research. It describes the method of data gathering – in-depth semi-structured interviews, and the chosen methods of analysis – thematic narrative analysis (Riessman, 2008)and poetic inquiry (Butler-Kisber, 2010).The chapter concludes with consideration of relevant ethical concerns and the limitations of the research.