Disciplining Subjectivities and Sensing Time at a US University

Informed by new materialism as well as Stefano Harney and Fred Moten’s concept of the undercommons, this article is a philosophical investigation of the feelings of time upon disciplined bodies and subjectivities in the university. Drawing from the author’s experience while participating in an anomalous reading group, this mode of inquiry is reflective and interpretive, mirroring the personal nature of sensation. The article first turns to Foucault’s analysis of how time disciplines the subject, followed by a discussion of the university’s perceptions of time. Finally, a sense of “useless” time is explored in terms of the undercommons to disrupt temporally disciplined bodies. Attention to the different sensations of time encountered – fast, slow, and timeless – demonstrates how, in turn, those same feelings can generate strategies to counteract the temporal constraints imposed by the managerial and neoliberal university.