Colonial power operated both physically on space and metaphysically on the mind

Evidence

These means of coordination were something particular and physical, offering what Michel Foucault has called a microphysical power; a power that worked by reordering material space in exact dimensions and acquiring a continuous bodily hold upon its subjects. Yet at the same time, I have tried to show, this power was something meta-physical. It worked by creating an appearance of order, an appearance of structure as some sort of separate, non-material realm. The creation of this metaphysical realm was what made the education of the individual suddenly imperative – just as the microphysical methods were what made such education possible. Power now sought to work not only upon the exterior of the body but also ‘from the inside out’ – by shaping the individual mind. — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 316

Categorization

• XREF: Mitchell’s dual microphysical/metaphysical framing dialogues with and extends Foucault’s disciplinary power analysis.