Foucault Now (2014)

James Faubion (Editor), Foucault Now, Polity, February 2014

ISBN: 978-0-7456-6378-4
232 pages

Description

Michel Foucault is recognized as one of the twentieth century’s most influential thinkers, however the authors in this volume contend that more use can be made of Foucault than has yet been done and that some of the uses to which Foucault has so far been put run the risk of and occasionally simply amount to misuse.This interdisciplinary volume brings together a group of esteemed scholars, recognized for their command of and insights into Foucault’s oeuvre. They demonstrate the many respects in which Foucault’s project of an ontology of the present remains vital and continues to yield compelling insights and show that an ontology of the present is restricted to no particular terrain, but instead ranges widely and on paths that frequently intersect.The essays in this much-needed new collection address the key components of Foucault’s thought, ranging from his approach to power, biopolitics and parrhesia to analysis of key texts such as Folie et Déraison and Histoire de la sexualité.

This collection will spark debate amongst students and scholars alike and demonstrates that that every further encounter with Foucault’s corpus is more likely than not to demand a revisiting of interpretations already formulated, conclusions already drawn, uses already devised.

Interdisciplinary volume that addresses key themes of Foucault’s thought, including biopolitics and parrhesia
Provides analysis of key texts such as ‘Folie et Deraison’ and ‘Histoire de la sexualite’
Features innovative contributions from leading Foucault scholars such as Didier Eribon, Ian Hacking and Cary Wolfe
Contributors argue that Foucault’s thought demands a revisiting of previously-drawn interpretations

Contributors include Didier Eribon, Eric Fassin, John Forrester, Ian Hacking, Lynne Huffer, Colin Koopman, James Laidlaw, Laurence McFalls, Mariella Pandolfi, Paul Rabinow and Cary Wolfe.

Editor Information

James Faubion is professor of anthropology at Rice University. His previous publications include “Foucault’s Genealogy of Ethics,” in A Companion to Moral Anthropology, edited by Didier Fassin (Wiley, 2012) and An Anthropology of Ethics (Cambridge, 2011) with George Marcus, ed.

Reviews

“No thinker of the last generation helped shape understandings of the world more powerfully than Foucault. This splendid and up-to-date anthology shows that his work, through its various phases, retains its analytic power today.”
Simon During, University of Queensland

“Now is an appropriate time to reassess Foucault’s work, to reflect upon its significance, relevance, and impact. These wide-ranging and challenging essays by leading figures in the field demonstrate the extraordinary breadth and depth of Foucault’s contribution to the social sciences and humanities.”
Barry Smart, University of Portsmouth

“Foucault Now shows that ‘Foucault then’ is as relevant today as ever he was. The essays collected here traverse the full range of Foucault’s work. In situating his concerns and methods within the politics of his times, they also connect them to the politics of the present with a compelling urgency. Foucault’s originality still astonishes, and he remains simply indispensable.”
Tony Bennett, University of Western Sydney