ANALYSIS OF: HISTORY OF SEXUALITY I: THE WILL TO KNOW IN DIALOGUES BETWEEN MICHEL FOUCAULT, JUDITH BUTLER, GILLES DELEUZE AND ACHILLE MBEMBE

Abstract

This article analyzes the relationships between power, biopower, biopolitics, sexuality, and processes of subjectivation based on Chapter V of The History of Sexuality: The Will to Knowledge by Michel Foucault (1999). The study also establishes a dialogue with the contributions of Judith Butler (2018), Gilles Deleuze (2013), and Achille Mbembe (2018), relating the concepts of performativity, control society, and necropolitics. The research problem seeks to understand how mechanisms of power produce discourses on sexuality and influence the constitution of subjects in modern and contemporary societies.The general objective is to analyze the transformation of the forms of power described by Michel Foucault (1999), emphasizing the transition from sovereign power to biopower and its implications for the production of subjectivities. Specifically, the study aims to examine the historical constitution of the dispositifs of sexuality, discuss forms of resistance within power relations, and relate Foucault's contributions to the contemporary debates developed by Butler (2018), Deleuze (2013), and Mbembe (2018).This is a qualitative bibliographic study based on the interpretative analysis of the selected authors' works. The methodology relied on critical reading of specialized literature, seeking theoretical convergences among the concepts of power, sexuality, biopolitics, performativity, control, and necropolitics.The findings indicate that modern power extends beyond repression by producing discourses, knowledge, and practices that regulate bodies and manage the life of populations. Sexuality emerges as one of the principal dispositifs of biopower while simultaneously functioning as a permanent space of resistance and the production of new subjectivities. The contributions of Butler (2018), Deleuze (2013), and Mbembe (2018) broaden the understanding of contemporary transformations of power, highlighting new forms of control, exclusion, and resistance.It is concluded that Foucault's thought remains essential for understanding the constitution of subjects and contemporary forms of governing life. The dialogue with Butler (2018), Deleuze (2013), and Mbembe (2018) expands this perspective by demonstrating that power relations continue to produce identities, regulate behaviors, and determine which lives are protected, controlled, or exposed to vulnerability.