Foucault News

Most of the most recent work on this book project has been on the section of Chapter Two discussing the Nu-Pieds revolts. An analysis of these, and the repression that follows, takes up the first seven lectures of Théories et institutions pénales. It’s a fascinating story, and nowhere else does Foucault give so much attention to a struggle between people and state power. I will be speaking about this part of the course at the Historical Materialism conference in November, though the brevity of that talk will mean I can only highlight a few major themes. If you don’t read French, Barry Stocker’s analyses of the first few of these lectures are very useful. Chapter Two now exists in a complete, long, draft – a discussion of the Nu-Pieds; then on the shift from Germanic law to the Monarchical State, and the legal system of the high Middle…