Without deproblematizing Foucault’s work, but properly problematizing it

January 14, 2023

Foucault looms large in contemporary discourse, not the least because from his time and position, France was the last colonial master of Vietnam before the Americans fought the Vietnam War. Because of Foucault's insistent focus on the grain trade, and because of common sense with the important Farm Bill this year, ask: how delicate is this? The US is involved in some grain trade politics trying to institute a stronger domestic farm. This is the year for the Farm Bill, and you cannot oppose the Farm Bill; that's not how it works. 

The financialization of the farm leads to the politics of agrarian tumult. From Occupy Wall Street to the present day, to what extent does all this become enmeshed in the legacy of the Vietnam War, the longer you look into it? In particular, the U.S. unavoidably took over French prerogatives in Vietnam during the course of the Vietnam War. 

How was physiocracy a resistance element to this, and how much was it implicated in it? There is a legitimate question about the structure of the state apparatus in Vietnam and the reminder to learn history or else be victimized by it. Imperialism is mercantilist in its most brutal face, but paternalist in its softer face, which involves physiocratic analysis. 

The physiocracy of Foucault is also the paternalistic concern for Vietnam implicit in its colonialism there, which might be a reason there is an aftertaste of imperialism in its theory. But that's simply the conjunctive presence of French imperialism on our history with Vietnam. When we hear statements like "rural America has been colonized by urban America" keep in mind that in the theory of physiocracy this is but an unfortunate coincidence of history, implying nothing eternal. 

Physiocracy is a medieval theory. Its use is that it is infinitely more advanced than the practice of agriculture as it originated. But it's more than the administration of agriculture. It's the politics of the grain reserves. What's interesting about this is how it involves statecraft and international politics and affairs. What is undeniable from the mature perspective is that sometimes commodities are spent like coin to create certain outcomes. 

Has the supply chain weirdness with Covid (soybeans), food aid to Afghanistan, even the Ukraine situation, and whatever else the grain reserves are going to, put us on a strong footing or back-footed with this new Farm Bill? That's what I think Foucault would be interested in: not to deproblematize physiocracy, but to properly problematize it.