| Nations are experienced as Bodies |
Koenigsberg |
Foucault |
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Foucault had it backwards. According to Koenigsberg, it is not so much that discourse shapes the body, but that the body is the source of discourse:
- The “body politic” is not simply a metaphor. This term expresses the fact that nations are experienced as if bodies.
- Because nations are experienced in corporeal terms, they seek to secure their borders—orifices and entry points—from infiltration and penetration.
- The experience of one’s nations with insecure or porous boundaries—is equivalent to the fear that one’s own body will be penetrated.
Since the nation is experienced as a projection of one’s body—hysteria and paranoia are the same. |
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