Nicole
Kasbary
Professor
Alessandro
Human
Geography
19
May 2012
Panopticon- Checkpoint
Jeremy Bentham was
an important English reformer during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, where
he developed an architectural plan for an ideal prison that he called the
Panopticon. Panopticism is a style of supervising the individual and making him
follow and obey to the system. This prison would consist of a circle of
individual cells surrounding an observation tower. Each of the cells would open
toward the tower and be brightened by its own outside window. A single guard in
the observation tower could keep watch on many prisoners--each of whom would be
individually secured and locked down--without himself being seen. This leads the
prisoners to not see their supervisors, which they will undertake that they were
being watched at all times, even if sometimes they are not ("Panoptical
Power in China", 1).
The Panopticon was designed to exploit the power of a control, superintending
gaze upon an obvious society of inmates. The purpose of the Panopticon was not
so much to punish wrongdoers, but as to prevent wrongdoing by engaging
prisoners in a field of total visibility in the anticipation that the
possibility of continuous surveillance would serve to restrain the inmates
(Foucault, 1980). Therefore, through self-policing, scrutiny would become perpetual
and pervasive in its effects, even if it was not continuously exercised. There was
never a definite top position of the guard, but all the prisoners would feel as
if they are being monitored. It is for this reason that this disciplinary device
is so effective. The Panopticon serves as a tool for discipline and a
laboratory of power ("Panoptical Power in China", 2).
This idea of the panopticon was later more discussed by Michael
Foucault. was a French post-structuralist born in the year of 1926. He was a
homosexual and died of AIDs in 1984. His most interests were in literature,
politics, and psychology. Foucault’s most noteworthy book was The Subject and
Power where he gives his own ideas and thoughts of power and the panopticon. He
expressed that the panopticon was a generalizable model of the functioning of
power in modern disciplinary societies. It was not only useful for prisons, but
included hospitals, the military, schools, factories, and business. The concept
of hierarchical surveillance usually plays a prominent role in emerging a kind
of creative and self-disciplined workers and capitalists ("Panoptical
Power in China”, 3). Pictures are displayed below of what an ideal panopticon tower
looks like.
Figure1
Figure 2
The use of panopticons and the theory of power are seen throughout
the ideas and concepts of Michael Foucault. Moreover, the panopticon plays an
important role where the government is trying to take over the people. These
two great ideas have changes the way people view the world. The world is not a
safe place; we are either being controlled against our free will, or observed
by a scrutiny government to insure people do not make any wrong doings. Power
and the panopticon illustrate how related they are, how they play in each
other’s role, and how it cannot be stopped and overcome (Foucault, 1977).
The idea of the panopticon can be found in today’s modern society
especially in the country of Palestine. Panopticons are portrayed everywhere
from cameras to checkpoints. Everyday for the Palestinians is their ideal of
being watched, not only by the government but by the Israelis. Checkpoints are
found all over Palestine and they all contain a watch tower. One significant
checkpoint I pass through everyday is the way to my university from Wadi
El-Nar. The idea in the situation here is that the Palestinians are being
watched by the Israelis while passing through the checkpoints. Yet, sometimes
inside the watch tower there might not be a guard, but we have that tendency to
think that there is. This would lead us to behave in a specific way, for
instance, by not moving in a suspicious way and not looking directly at the
tower. My project portrays exactly that, the idea of the “eye” watching you at all
times through the lens of a map. My map depicts the way of Wadi El-Nar and how the
tower is watching you and where. The map will illustrate photos and show exactly
where the tower can see the taxis and the people. This idea was very compelling
for me because I got to see the idea of the panopticon in my daily life.
This concept of the panopticon is very cruel and gives an impact on
people. It would make the world behave and know that they cannot do anything
wrong, because if you do severe consequences are issued. Panopticons are
modules that we tend to go through everyday and it controls us without our
knowledge. The world is not a safe place; we are either being controlled
against our free will, or observed by a scrutiny government to insure people do
not make any wrong doings. Power and the panopticon illustrate how related they
are, how they play in each other’s role, and how it cannot be stopped and
overcome.
Nicole Kasbary.
Nicole Kasbary.
Work Cited
·
Foucault,
M. (1977). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (A. Sheridan,
Trans.). New York: Vintage. (Original work published 1975)
·
"Panoptical
Power in China".123HelpMe.com. 16 May
2012 <http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=26108>.
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