*summary
1. what are main characteristics of DAII?
-focuses on the articulation of discourses through institutional apparatuses and institutional technologies
-concentrates on the sites of production and audiencing in their social modality
-pays more attention to powerful discourses that saturate institutions and apparatuses to produce their subjects, than to visual images or texts itself.
2. what is meant with the notions of ‘institutional apparatus’ and ‘institutional technologies’?
-institutional apparatus: the forms of power/knowledge which constitute the institutions (e.g. panopticon – architectural design, moral and philosophical treatise)
-institutional technologies: the practical techniques used to practice that power/knowledge. (e.g. design of the windows and blinds in the panopticon)
3. what kind of sources can you analyse with this method?
-written texts, interviews, visual images, style of architecture, observation toward people who visit or work in certain institution
*concrete example for an institution which can be examined with DA II
1. choose example, visit this institution
: schools(especially South Korean schools) + boarding school, special-purpose school
#special-purpose school: A school which aims to raise students with education of special field. Most of them require not only the grades of former schools, but also taking their own entrance examination or interview. There are various types of these schools: science, foreign languages, arts, sports, international schools, etc. They can offer different curriculum with regular schools: for example, I had German language class everyday for three years, since I am from foreign language high school.
2. reflect particularly on the ‘institutional technologies’ and how these may influence related individuals
2-1. institutional apparatus/technology
1) explicit rule(school regulations)
-Schools have their own regulations, which make them as ‘seperate place’ from family or society. In many novels, movies, dramas or comic books, school is drawn as a ‘miniature society’, which has its own power relation. In school, student should follow the rules made by teachers(or a principal), and this is inevitable unless he/she leaves the school.
-in my case, the dormitory rule was especially very strict, but most students try not to break the rule since if we don’t, we will be expelled from the dormitory – then we have to find our own way to commute to school, which was surrounded by mountains.
-one of the dorm rule was prohibition of locking the door, because housemasters have right to check students’ rooms unexpectedly, to find out any violation of rules.
2) school bell
-Students move in accordance with school bell. Sometimes I felt like we are pavlov’s dogs. The bell regulates student’s behavior – it tells them when to study, take a rest, and even when to start and finish having a meal. Just like museums or galleries make visitors follow certain route.
3) Uniforms
In South Korea, almost every schools except elementary school have their own school uniforms, and wearing ‘accurate’ uniform is also included in the school regulation. If they do not wear uniforms with the guideline given by school, they will be punished. (This has been a quite problematic issue in Korea as many people have claimed that it invades student’s human right). Aside from the expression of individuality, it was sometimes too inflexible; for example, my high school prohibited wearing clothes other than uniforms, so students have to shiver with cold in the winter because we are only allowed to wear school uniform coat, which was too thin to keep out the cold. Forcing student to wear uniforms, especially in a only certain way, is a symbolic way of regulation.
4) placement in the classroom
Most Korean classrooms have this kind of arrangement.
With this placement, all students look at the teacher. This arrangement produces one-sided communication – teacher gives explanation, and students take the notes. Along with 5) and 6), students usually listen to what teacher says, rather than suggesting their opinions or asking. They ‘learn’ the knowledge given from the teacher, and study it by themselves after the class.
*This is also because of the number of students in one class(usually 35-40)
Therefore when I first took the tutorial of UM, it was unfamiliar for me to look at other student’s face, or sitting in the same place with a tutor.
Additionally, teachers stand up while students sit and look up at the teacher. This makes it available for teacher to monitor everything happens in the classroom, while students can only see the teacher. This is also similar with the design of panopticon.
5) implicit(invisible) rule
-when the class hour starts, the classroom becomes a place owned by a teacher. These days it is getting better, but when I was a student, talking during the class was rejected implicitly. It does not refer to chatting; students are not expected to talk unless a teacher asks them to answer certain question.
-students regulate themselves like the prisoners of the panopticon, and they are also regulated by the presence of other students, just like the audiences of museum and gallery. The perception of what does ‘school’ means as a certain institute influences how students behave inside of it.
-a sort of peer pressure
6*) influence of Confucianism(traditional model of teacher)
*this is rather historical factor
-the ‘vertical relationship’ between student and teacher also attribute to the status of teacher in Confucian culture. In this culture, because ‘learning’ is regarded as one of the most important thing in the life, teacher has high social status. There is even a old saying ‘one should not even step on the teacher’s shadow’ in Korea. With this social mood, people tend to think that students should ‘learn’ from teacher, who knows better then them. Students who are ‘produced’ by this discourse are not familiar with debating lesson, because ‘learning’ equals ‘listening and studying by themselves’.
2-2. individuals produced by the institution
-continued with 6). rather passive students.