Bound to the back of a tiger: Michel Foucault's 'pragmatic humanism' as a frame for understanding an ethics of resistance

Michel Foucault's late turn to ethics for an understanding of subject self-constitution is explored in relation to the doctrine of humanism. Foucault's reconsideration of the importance of Immanuel Kant's legacy of humanism that issued out of the Enlightenment constitutes, it is argued, a significant resource for thinking about new ways to approach cultural practices that have as their aim a reconstitution of identity outside dominant structures of scientific and legal knowledge. Sketching Foucault's “anti-humanist” views from his earlier archaeological and genealogical analyses of knowledge constitution, this work explores how such anti-humanist misgivings give way to a more pragmatic conception of humanism in relation to notions of freedom, rights, and equality. The work of John Dewey is employed as a means by which to situate what is called here the “pragmatic humanism” of the later Foucault. It is further argued that such a conception offers a way out of the impasse between modern and postmodern sensibilities. As an empirical focus, Foucault's pragmatic humanism is employed in relation to current Maya revitalization practices in Guatemala. The Maya case—conceived as an “ethic of resistance”—serves as one example of how we might use Foucault's insights on ethics and passive resistance within the context of everyday identity claims.