Knowledge is power!  This statement can be analyzed and critiqued in many different ways.  Through the readings we have read and through the papers and assignments we have completed, I have come to know a little of what this phrase can mean.  Of course this phrase can mean different things for different people.  But it also depends on how you look at this phrase, and with what kind of mind set you see it.  In this short essay I would like to make you see a small glimpse of what this phrase actually means to me and how I see it through my eyes.  I would like to explain the reciprocal relationship between knowledge and power.
 First of all I would like to take a look at both of these words separately.  According to the dictionary knowledge is understanding gained by experience.  And power a position of authority.  So by scratching the surface of this phrase by a dictionary definition we can say that knowledge is power means that to have knowledge means to be in a position of authority.  But we know that this is not always true.  It is true in one case, for example a person in power has to be knowledgeable.  But yet a person who is knowledgeable does not necessarily mean that they are a person in power.  This is where the phrase gets complicated and where we can start adding our own meanings and interpretations.
             Now I would like to give you a little taste of what knowledge is power means to me.  At the beginning of this term we started out with an article written by Fillingham, Foucault for Beginners.  She started out talking about Foucault and just a short paragraph about his writings, and then suddenly hits you with the theme “knowledge is power.”  At first glance I didn’t thing much about this phrase I just took it as it is and kept on reading.  Then as we discussed it in class and expanded more on this topic I began to realize how much depth there is to this phrase.  I don’t think this phrase could have a one certain or stable definition.  This phrase is hard to explain because it means so many things.  Referring back to the article, what I thought was interesting is that she said “in one case physical force, in the other mental force.”  This phrase is what really struck me, it made sense to me.  To have knowledge is power.  When you have physical force you don’t necessarily always win, but when you have knowledge it already includes power.  You can be powerful physically and have no knowledge, but to have knowledge is to have power.  One example that I really enjoyed in Foucault’s article is the example he gave about the prisoners.  He says in his article “it was considered that people found guilty of crimes could not be condemned to a more useful penalty than to be forced to work.”  As we discussed the two forms of power in class, power over and power relations.  I think the example Foucault gave in his article shows power over.  This is because the prisoners were forced to work for the sake of working.  They were not made to work so that they can build something useful, they were made to work because someone has power over them.  Yet if the people who have power over would be knowledgeable they would have made the prisoners do something useful.  When you have knowledge it seems that power disappears.  Because power is included in knowledge you don’t have to exercise power when you are knowledgeable.
             One person that I can give as an example that explains my theory is the president.  I really admire the president because it takes a lot of stress and courage to do what he is doing.  When the president has knowledge he can manipulate things to come out in his favor, even if he does not do it by power over.  If he knows what he wants to accomplish he can do it by not exercising power over but by knowledge.  That is what I think knowledge is power means in a sense.  That is why knowledge and power are reciprocals of each other.  There are many ways in which this can be interpreted but this is a small light that will guide me to the ultimate meaning.
             The article written by Sands, “Never Meant to Survive” in some ways is a good example that shows power relations.  And I think it is necessary to understand both kinds of powers in order to fully understand the phrase knowledge is power.  Power relations are a form of social discipline.  By this I mean that no one is forcing you by power over you or physical force but it is a form of power that you have become accustomed to and you do it with out really noticing it.  As the interview between Evelynn Hammonds and Aimee Sands progresses I got the feeling that Evelynn did not want to pursue her degree because she felt that it would be a hard life to live, and she does not want that kind of stress her whole life.  She knows she is a good physicist and is capable of doing it, but that is not what stopped her.  This is where I feel that a power relation comes in to effect.  No one told her not to do it (of course she was not encouraged by many people), and no one stopped her therefore not practicing power over, but practicing power relations.  The reason I feel that this is important to understanding knowledge is power is because Evelynn knew that it would be a hard life and therefore by her being knowledgeable and seeing the future she manipulated the situation in such a way that would be favorable for her.  Meaning that by her being knowledgeable she is able to obtain power with out actually manifesting power.
 This essay was a short glimpse of what knowledge is power actually means to me.  After being aware of this phrase I have noticed that power/knowledge relationships are always already present in everything we do.  And this is a reason why it is important to know what it means how it is being applied into our world and our society.  Through my essay I have tried to show how knowledge and power are reciprocals of one another.  Since power is already included in knowledge (according to me) it would be safe to say that either knowledge or power are both the same way of saying the same thing.
 
 
 

                                                            Works Cited

Fillingham, Lydia Alex (1993) Foucault for Beginners. Writers and Readers Publishing

Lawrence D. Kritzman (2001). Michel Foucault, 101-106.  Routledge Chapman and
 Hall, Inc

Aimee Sands (1986).  Never Meant to Survive, Radical Teacher, 239-248.  Center for
 Critical Education, Inc.