TY - BOOK
T1 - Natures of Conduct
T2 - Governmentality and the Danish West Indies
AU - Sielemann, Rasmus Basse
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Natures of Conduct explores the rationalities, practices and techniques of government processes in the
Danish West Indies in the period between the late eighteenth century to the end of Danish colonial rule in
1917. In doing so, it engages Michel Foucault’s concepts of governmentality and the ‘dispositif’ in the
analysis of technologies of rule in the colony.
The dissertation shows that in the formulation of governmental interventions – in terms of novel
legislation, institutions, and organizational forms – a gradually greater emphasis was given to conceptions
of ‘population’, ‘society’, and ‘economy’ as ’natural’ and autonomous processes. Equally, greater weight
was being given to the ‘natural’ preconditions of colonial subjects in the design of governmental
techniques, which produced an ethos of progress and development.
However, these conceptions of ‘naturalness’ produced a highly ambiguous project of colonial rule that, in
terms of governmental technologies, blurred the boundaries between despotism and liberalism, coercion
and freedom. Hence, the dissertation questions the efficacy of applying general labels of governmental and
political rationalities – e.g. liberalism or despotism – to specific historical contexts, as well as applying
preconceived notions of a teleological movement towards more liberal modes of government.
AB - Natures of Conduct explores the rationalities, practices and techniques of government processes in the
Danish West Indies in the period between the late eighteenth century to the end of Danish colonial rule in
1917. In doing so, it engages Michel Foucault’s concepts of governmentality and the ‘dispositif’ in the
analysis of technologies of rule in the colony.
The dissertation shows that in the formulation of governmental interventions – in terms of novel
legislation, institutions, and organizational forms – a gradually greater emphasis was given to conceptions
of ‘population’, ‘society’, and ‘economy’ as ’natural’ and autonomous processes. Equally, greater weight
was being given to the ‘natural’ preconditions of colonial subjects in the design of governmental
techniques, which produced an ethos of progress and development.
However, these conceptions of ‘naturalness’ produced a highly ambiguous project of colonial rule that, in
terms of governmental technologies, blurred the boundaries between despotism and liberalism, coercion
and freedom. Hence, the dissertation questions the efficacy of applying general labels of governmental and
political rationalities – e.g. liberalism or despotism – to specific historical contexts, as well as applying
preconceived notions of a teleological movement towards more liberal modes of government.
KW - Faculty of Humanities
KW - Danish West Indies
M3 - Ph.D. thesis
BT - Natures of Conduct
PB - Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet
ER -