Well, needless to say, i didnt get though (or even start) Foucault. i attempted 'governmentality' - a chapter edited from a speech he made in 1978, but didnt really make head nor tail of it. I did read half of Donzelot though, which was even worse. not sure how much of that i understood either. But i realise that a PhD is all about reading completely inaccesible stuff that could be understandable if only they would find a decent editor.
I found it really hard to remotivate myself after Xmas, but think im on the way again now. I had submitted an 8000-word paper on policy and youth justice, which got positive feedback generally. My supervisors said my style was 'polemic' and 'journalisatic' and, after looking up what 'polemic' meant, decided that this was a compliment (even though its not the style for academia).
This month i have mainly been reading about 'subjectivity', and how discourse constructs it, and trying to get my head around the whole agency/structure debate, which apparently i need to make some headway in resolving. i think i get it....