the prison-house in the house on the hill: malcolm x and the power of knowledge

the present study focuses on malcolm x's autobiographical account of his prison life based on foucault's notions of prison in discipline and punish. the researchers seek to show that the ambivalent nature of imprisonment helped malcolm attain knowledge and power through paradoxical mechanisms. on the one hand, the prison house acts as an oppressive force on the psyche of the black man. on the other hand, the ubiquitous nature of the literal prison and the racial prison as dominant discourses in the us play a very crucial role in the achievement of knowledge (both about the self and the other), and in the production of new knowledge paradigms by black people. this might lead to the achievement of power by the oppressed, and a possible reformation in the dominant culture of the oppressor. this research applies foucault’s theory of the psychology of the prison to the autobiography of malcolm x. the objective is to show that the paradoxical nature and role of the prison (detected by foucault) reveals itself in malcolm x’s autobiographical account as well.