Michel Foucault's genealogy and history as diagnostics of the present: elements for Education's History

Abstract

Michel Foucault affirms that his books are not philosophy treaties, neither historical studies, but are, at most, philosophical fragments in historical areas, which make it possible to say that his researches are situated between philosophic thinking and historiographical practice, being the present itself in the perspective of his history. It is about questioning the irruption of events that produced our present and historically investigating how and why we became who we are. In the genealogical approach of history on the field of education, the Foucauldian analysis falls upon knowledge, in terms of strategy and power tactics, implying in situating knowledge in the clash of struggles, the truth in the game of disputes. The purpose here is to take the discussion of genealogical history to the field of education, understanding that genealogical tools can provide elements to the suspicion and interrogation not only about the education constitution but also of the notion of history itself, allowing to understand discursive construction of educational memories as effects of real wills.