Introduction to Foucault - Detailseite

Foucault’s oeuvre has been highly influential in the humanities and beyond. It also has had important implications for political theory. In this course, we assess the continuing relevance of his work for political theory by tracing two lines of inquiry in the later works: the genealogy of the state and the history of the subject. These two lines often intersect, for instance in his study of pastoral power. This intersection raises important questions as to how and to what extent the modern state determines the formation of individuals, as well as the possibility for resistance. While some criticize Foucault for refusing to explicate the normative ground of his political statements, others argued that his later work shows how he had to return to liberal, universal values; while yet others would stress that he provides a convincing critique of liberalism and neoliberalism.  More specifically, his studies have led to radical revisions of key concepts such as ‘sovereignty’, ‘freedom’, ‘rights’ and ‘the state’.

Moreover, the genealogies of the state and of the subject points to issues such as sexuality, reproduction, and race, which are at the heart of feminist, queer and post-colonial studies. Although Foucault has been relatively influential in these fields, he was received at times very critically. Some, for instance, doubt that his conception of freedom is useful to feminist struggles, while others consider it very helpful in moving beyond a Eurocentric notion of autonomy. These debates are not marginal to political theory but belong to its very core: Foucault famously exhorts the readers to ‘cut off the king’s head’, and push political theory beyond juridical theories on rights and prohibitions. Following this suggestion, we can thus re-assess the boundaries of political theory beyond its traditional confines.

Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punishment

----, Society Must Be Defended!

----, Security, Territory, Population

----, The Birth of Biopolitics

----, The History of Sexuality: The Will to Knowledge, The Use of Pleasure, The Care of the Self

---, Power

Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism's Stealth Revolution

Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject

Lois McNay, “Self as Enterprise: Dilemmas of Control and Resistance in Foucault’s The Birth of Biopolitics”

Dianna Taylor and Karen Vintges, Feminism and the Final Foucault

Cornel West, “A Genealogy of Modern Racism”