Critical Reflection on “The Prison Notebook” and “Truth and Power”

   Critical Reflection on “The Prison Notebook” and “Truth and Power”

Antoni Gramsci’s “The Prison Notebook” describes how philosophy and ideology influences hegemony, the construct of one group having dominance over the other. Michael Foucault’s “Truth and Power” describes how the idea of truth is shaped the construct of a social hierarchy and influences the way we perceive reality. In science, it is usually difficult to argue against the ideas of a scientist unless there is valid evidence to support the opposition. However, what is interesting is the way people in power are able to shape and redefine what is the truth. This was especially evident in the Communist regime in China when Chairman Mao persecuted the upper class community, burned many ancient scriptures and books, and reinstated a new form of education. For a whole generation, Chinese students were reaped of their education and obscured from understanding the truth about the foundation of their nation. This conflict continues to rise in mainland China today as those who protest and oppose their government are censored and severely punished. Watching history and education being rewritten and reinforced by a form of power signifies how tangible and changeable knowledge and history is for people with power. This is also relevant in America, as people with money and influence could easily change and tamper with the way we see news as well as how events are reported and how history is being documented. It also influences what information we can see and how we are able to address the topic based on the information provided to us. A problem that should be addressed in United States Public School History and English courses is the exclusion of narratives written by people who are not considered African American nor White. Because Native Americans, Muslim  Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders and Latinos aren’t considered the dominant group of the U.S., their narrative and their experience of being in the United States sometimes gets overlooked by narratives of the European or African American experience. The American education system portrays the struggle of racism and slavery as a problem exclusive to African Americans and the narrative of Native Americans as a tragic event of genocide, while ignoring the experiences of the early Asian American immigrants. One problem with this narrative is that it mitigates the accomplishments made by the people within these communities and invokes a bias or stereotype to these communities. Although history and information tends to be written and presented by the victors, it is our obligation to look beyond what is presented to us and question the motive and validity behind the facts presented to us.