Imagens do escuro: reflexões sobre subjetividades invisíveis / Images of the darkness: reflections on invisible subjectivities

Abstract

 AbstractThis paper examines the epistemological model based upon the Enlightenment paradigm that underlies Modern Western thought and discusses other forms of writing and production of knowledge. Based on the the work of Michel Foucault, Walter Benjamin, Giorgio Agamben and others, we consider the production of knowledge in darkness. We start out with an evaluation of the effects of an epistemology of light and the potential of thought in the absence of light. We present an analysis of the relationship of that epistemology with forms of organization and urban lighting, as well as the production of invisible subjectivities. In a writing exercise conducted in a zone of shadows, we relate a story which binds the production of light and shadow and their productive power within contemporary urban society. Finally, this study affirms the power of shadows and the need to devise strategies that allow us to write in or with darkness and with those invisible subjectivities which inhabit it.Keywords: epistemology, writing, cities, subjectivities, powerResumoNesse artigo refletimos sobre o modelo epistemológico pautado na ideia de luzes constituinte do pensamento Ocidental Moderno, discutindo outras formas de escrever e produzir conhecimento. A partir de autores como Michel Foucault, Walter Benjamin e Giorgio Agamben, propomos uma reflexão sobre a produção do conhecimento no escuro. Iniciamos abordando os efeitos da epistemologia da luminosidade e a potência de se pensar nas sombras. Em seguida, analisamos a relação dessa epistemologia com as formas de organização e iluminação das cidades e a produção de subjetividades invisíveis. Em um exercício de escrita a partir de uma zona sombria, trazemos uma história que amarra a produção de luzes e sombras e seu poder produtivo na sociedade urbana contemporânea. Ao final, afirmamos a potência das sombras e a necessidade de construção de estratégias que nos permitam escrever no e com o escuro e com aquelas subjetividades invisíveis que o habitam.Palavras-chave: epistemologia, escrita, cidade, subjetividades, potência AbstractThis paper examines the epistemological model based upon the Enlightenment paradigm that underlies Modern Western thought and discusses other forms of writing and production of knowledge. Based on the the work of Michel Foucault, Walter Benjamin, Giorgio Agamben and others, we consider the production of knowledge in darkness. We start out with an evaluation of the effects of an epistemology of light and the potential of thought in the absence of light. We present an analysis of the relationship of that epistemology with forms of organization and urban lighting, as well as the production of invisible subjectivities. In a writing exercise conducted in a zone of shadows, we relate a story which binds the production of light and shadow and their productive power within contemporary urban society. Finally, this study affirms the power of shadows and the need to devise strategies that allow us to write in or with darkness and with those invisible subjectivities which inhabit it.Keywords: epistemology, writing, cities, subjectivities, powerAbstractThis paper examines the epistemological model based upon the Enlightenment paradigm that underlies Modern Western thought and discusses other forms of writing and production of knowledge. Based on the the work of Michel Foucault, Walter Benjamin, Giorgio Agamben and others, we consider the production of knowledge in darkness. We start out with an evaluation of the effects of an epistemology of light and the potential of thought in the absence of light. We present an analysis of the relationship of that epistemology with forms of organization and urban lighting, as well as the production of invisible subjectivities. In a writing exercise conducted in a zone of shadows, we relate a story which binds the production of light and shadow and their productive power within contemporary urban society. Finally, this study affirms the power of shadows and the need to devise strategies that allow us to write in or with darkness and with those invisible subjectivities which inhabit it.Keywords: epistemology, writing, cities, subjectivities, power