Empowerment through Revivalisms: Some Gains and Losses

Abstract

Historically, the much debated concept of power was largely assumed to have an existence independent of relationships. Michel Foucault (1979) changed this view by defining power as contextual and relational. From this viewpoint power relationships between individuals are constantly changing and what constitutes subversion in one situation becomes subservience in another, and vice versa. Self-empowerment, in terms of the taking of power for oneself or the bestowing of power, is subject to this same kind of situational framework. Empowerment in one situation and relationship may be disempowerment in another.