History, Environment and device of power

«History of Sexuality»: A Possible Key to Think About the Environmental

Abstract

The present essay explores possible links between environmental history and Michel Foucault's concept of the apparatus of power, focusing on his work The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: The Will to Knowledge. In Foucault, the problem of power goes beyond repression or its negative character. He offers us the articulation of knowledge-power-pleasure as a basis for analyzing power relations. Environmental history, on the other hand, analyzes how human societies have been affected by the environment and, in turn, have transformed it through the social relations of appropriation and production. This essay seeks to reflect on environmental issues through a Foucauldian lens, drawing on contributions from contemporary philosophy, film, and literature. By generating these dialogues, it aims to contribute to this field by advocating for a more complex understanding of power relations and the actors involved in natural and social history, to avoid stagnation in environmental historical analysis.