Seventeenth-century plague measures fixed every person in place under surveillance

Evidence

First, a strict spatial partitioning: the closing of the town and its outlying districts, a prohibition to leave the town on pain of death, the killing of all stray animals; the division of the town into distinct quarters, each governed by an intendant. Each street is placed under the authority of a syndic, who keeps it under surveillance; if he leaves the street, he will be condemned to death. On the appointed day, everyone is ordered to stay indoors: it is forbidden to leave on pain of death. The syndic himself comes to lock the door of each house from the outside; he takes the key with him and hands it over to the intendant of the quarter; the intendant keeps it until the end of the quarantine. … It is a segmented, immobile, frozen space. Each individual is fixed in his place. And, if he moves, he does so at the risk of his life, contagion or punishment. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 304

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘segmented, immobile, frozen space’ foreshadows the panopticon’s fixed-position architecture; connects to the reader’s thesis on telescreens fixing citizens in visible positions. — connects to: Surveillance of things historically preceded and enabled surveillance of individuals — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 223

Broader Connections

• Surveillance of things historically preceded and enabled surveillance of individuals #exemplifies (0.75) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 223