“The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same”: How the Three Foucaultian Powers Have Been Reconceived in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Abstract

This paper works to identify the three Foucaultian powers within the South African community, in particular during post-apartheid times. While working through the definitions of sovereign, disciplinary, and regulatory power, arguments are made to illustrate how these three forces are still deeply entrenched and reinforced in post-apartheid South Africa. In particular, the examples of housing settlements, the theory of ubuntu, and virginity testing are parsed out in order to provide a deeper understanding of how post-apartheid South Africa’s foundations were largely, and unconsciously, built upon the amalgamation of the three Foucaultian powers. The paper wrestles with the consequences that result from rebuilding a society that is unconsciously based upon these three powers through deeply analyzing these three examples, each of which were presented as ways of uniting and bringing the country back into harmony, but after digging a little deeper, reveal the ways in which it can prevent them from achieving this goal.