The Quality of Power in the Discourse System of the Book "An Inscription on the Sky"

 

Introduction

The ideas of Michel Foucault (1926-1984) have brought about great changes in the fields of philosophy, politics, knowledge and social science. One of the most important terms in his view is power. According to Foucault, power exists in all aspects of human life and among all human beings. Power in its behavior seeks to regulate and subjugate others. It seems that by analyzing Foucault's views on power and its epistemological relationship between subject and subjugation, several works in the field of history, politics, oral history and even literature can be examined under cultural studies. The purpose of such research is to pay attention to the approach that Foucault has followed in recognizing power as a raw material by understanding the sub-subject and marginal. It is through these procedures that we can understand the mechanism of techniques and procedures of power and how it works (Barry, 2006: 104).
Oral history in the field of Iran-Iraq war (1978-1988), especially the memoirs of prisoners of war, is important as an example of societies that clearly emphasize the mechanisms of domination and power for survival. The book "An Inscription on the Sky" Narrated by Akbar Sayad Borani (2017), an Iranian pilot who was captured by Iraqi Ba'athist forces on the fourth day of the Iran-Iraq war, after his plane crashed at the border between the two countries. In this book, Sayad Borani, while narrating the bitter narratives of captivity, expresses the structure of hard and soft power, resistance and quasi-discourses within the captivity camps.
 

Methodology

In this study, the method of constructing the subject of criticism and the rule of the Iranian captives and the relations and functions of domination (prison guards) as the construction of the subject man in highlighting a specific narrative and parallel discourses have been studied. To show the aspects of originality and abstract images of Sayad Borani narrative propositions, his memoir entitled "An Inscription in the Sky" has been used. The main question of the article is the quality of power discourse and the confrontation of some external discourses in the form of discourse resistance. How did the author (narrator) of these memoirs show the disciplinary technology of prison guards in the three elements of knowledge, power and body?
 

Discussion

Foucault talks about the quality of power. In his view, these four themes encompass the issues of power that must be avoided: first, power is possession, and second, power is a phenomenon that is specifically concentrated in a particular state or social class. Third, power can be reduced to other areas. Fourth, its effects and effects are purely ideological (3), so they are subject to falsification, distortion and skepticism (Bard, 2003: 7-116).
Foucault considers the "problem of power" to be an interactive phenomenon and draws on micro-textures for power that extend to the smallest aspects of human relations. Foucault also believes that power does not usually change in nature. An example of this view can be seen in several places in the narration of an inscription on the sky.
In Foucault's definition of power, we come to the "qualitative characteristic" of a part of the relations between individuals that emerges within a specific framework of control systems in order to subjugate the supposed society.
Sayad Borani in expressing the relations between individuals and the control system (dominant discourse) refers to three relations: first, the relationship of prisoners with each other, and second: the relationship of prisoners with infiltrators and spies. Third: Prisoners' relations with prison guards.
In all three forms of relationships, the act of organizing is shown as the "possible sphere of action of others." In other words, the competition of each of the mentioned discourses, while trying to organize the nature of the representation of individuals, seeks to dominate the (discourse) of the other.
 

Conclusion

This study showed how the prison government, in order to create subjugation and order in its construction, highlights one discourse and marginalizes another discourse. The narrator states in his narrative that the desired power of the prison regime in the early days of his captivity and that of his friends initially sought to subdue them through threats, intimidation and punishment, but due to the resistance of the prisoners, the prison guards gradually turned to strategic behavior. They seem to be humane, and by providing facilities, changing violent guards and increasing food rations, they added to the aspects of care. In this study, there is a set of connections, activities and experiences in an intertwined network of discourse relations of the captive community through which to describe the connections between different classes of this human society. Citing evidence from the book Inscription in the Sky, it was found that in the approach of closed and totalitarian societies, such as the prisoner of war prison, two interconnected elements of behavioral norms and subjugation techniques in the self-regulation struggle for power seek to exploit the dominated elements. On the other hand, in a capillary, intangible and multifaceted way, the power tried to draw certain ways of life for the members of the society (prisoners of war) by persuading them. Power has done this by changing, but it did not change its nature. The intertwined networks of discourses sought to spread their accepted truths in the captive community in overt and covert conflict. The most important reason for the inability of the dominant discourse (prison guards) is the lack of proper understanding of discourses or sub-discourses that have overcome the dominant discourse and the established system of government in the form of resistance and sub-subjects.