Normativity versus normalisation: reassembling actor-network theory through Butler and Foucault

Abstract

ABSTRACT Judith Butler is often heralded as carrying on the legacy of Foucault, yet Butlerian normalisation is engrained in a sincere (mis)interpretation of Foucault. Foucault’s work on punitive measures defined a historically-limited domain by which one could map out a clustered network of power relations, or what he called a dispositif. By revisiting their differences and rethinking their relationship accordingly, one can piece together a methodological model that is immensely utilisable for actor-network theory (ANT). While Butler’s performativity allots agency to nonhuman entities – viewing it more as a dispersed field of agency – Foucault’s genealogy contextually places various power relations, particularly pertaining to material and immaterial nonhuman entities. More than just laying out a method for ANT though, highlighting their differences can help us rethink how we visualise the subject, the body, materialism and agency in very innovative ways while also gaining a deeper insight into what separates Foucault and Butler. Alongside this, we can see how their combined contribution helps ANT with (a) its lack of attention given to immaterial entities, (b) its reluctance to deal with identarian politics and (c) the divide between its more performative and its more practical branches.