Power and the Celebration of the Self: Michel Foucault's Epideictic Rhetoric

Abstract

I argue that Michel Foucault can be read as practicing a kind of epideictic rhetoric. Foucault's work is epideictic because it tells a history of the present, is concerned with aesthetics, and is involved in uncovering and displaying common cultural values or ideals. Through an analysis of the epideictic dimensions of Foucault's work I link his conception of power to his concern with the self and demonstrate that self-creation is connected to a display of the history of the present. Such a move implies that epideictic is a critical practice for contemporary rhetorical theorists and critics, the significance of which can be extended and developed in the light of Foucault's position on power and human agency.