Ann Laura Stoler

Michel Foucault is one of the most prominent philosophers of the twentieth century. His work has been used in academic disciplines across the board. His approaches to power should not be seen as one overarching theory, but as a plethora of changing attempts to understand power-relations and their epistemological development. His work has been influential in modern historical scholarship since its conception. I will show that prominent writers have been significantly influenced by his approaches to power. Their topics of interest differ, rather significantly in some cases: some, such as Watson and Vernon, have focussed on Foucault’s study of penal discipline and its influence on modern society, inspired by his Discipline and Punish; whilst others, such as Edward Said and Ann Laura Stoler, have been encouraged to write in relation to Foucault’s other approaches to power including sexuality and race. I will show that Michel Foucault’s influence upon historical writing has been diverse and inspirational. Although his work is seldom taken as writ, it has been used, as he intended, as a stimulus for dialectic, which has aided the development of history in several important areas.

This article surveys Theory Revolt's compelling case for historians to take theory seriously in their work, including Joan Scott's reflections on why the feminist turn to theory in the 1980s she helped lead apparently failed to influence the discipline as a whole. It also includes Ann Stoler's recent critiques of capital-T Theory: As she has remarked, "I don’t think we need the word theory any more,” she said, claiming what is meant by the word theory itself “isn’t even problematized half the time.” “Theory with a capital T,” Stoler said, has become “a black box.” “We are doing a disfavor to our graduate students by constantly talking about theory and history, theory and practice. It paralyzes them.”

В статье рассматривается несколько эпизодов продолжающегося диалога фило-
софии и антропологии с тем, чтобы проследить различные способы взаимовлия-
ния представителей этих дисциплин; отмечается переход от обсуждения эписте-
мологических проблем в 1980-е годы к соединению онтологии и эпистемологии
в текстах некоторых антропологов в 2010-е годы; приводятся рассуждения не-
скольких ученых-антропологов, не относящих себя к философам-профессиона-
лам, но активно использующих философские теории, аргументы и термины.

Th is essay participates in recent calls for more direct engagement with theory in research and teaching within History and Early American Studies. Over the last decade voices have gathered for a reconsideration of fundamental theoretical concepts in the historiography of culture. Th is essay reconsiders theory on semiotics, learning, and the body to reopen a conceptual problem in early American cultural historiography: the relationships between organized power and individual agency. I suggest an approach to power and agency specifi cally tuned to the conditions of early America colonization, which was more intimate and diverse while possessing fewer institutions and less communications-saturation than a focus on myth, ideology, or discursive formations might assume. Reconsidering semiotics as embodied allows a conception of the body as a learning entity creatively mediating discourses and social constructions and thereby generating new historical identities and relations of power. Th e argument draws on studies on gender/sexuality, Native Americans, and the enslaved and takes cues from the work of Gyatri Spivak, Ann

The work is about using Simulated Annealing Algorithm for the effort estimation model parameter
optimization which can lead to the reduction in the difference in actual and estimated effort used in model
development.
The model has been tested using OOP’s dataset, obtained from NASA for research purpose.The data set
based model equation parameters have been found that consists of two independent variables, viz. Lines of
Code (LOC) along with one more attribute as a dependent variable related to software development effort
(DE). The results have been compared with the earlier work done by the author on Artificial Neural
Network (ANN) and Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) and it has been observed that the
developed SA based model is more capable to provide better estimation of software development effort than
ANN and ANFIS.