Foucault News

Call for Papers
Reassessing Power: Foucault’s Legacy in Historical and Contemporary Research
This panel is a part of
5th Congress of Young Science
Gdansk, Poland, July 17-19, 2025

Moderator: Alessandro di Ludovico, PhD, University of Rome La Sapienza
Scientific supervisor: Alessandro di Ludovico, PhD, University of Rome La Sapienza; Museo di Scultura Antica Giovanni Barracco

Over the past two decades, Michel Foucault’s work has continued to inspire and challenge scholars across a wide spectrum of disciplines. His analyzes of *raison d’État*, governmentality, and biopolitics remain particularly relevant for scholars of modern history, political theory, and cultural studies. Far from being confined to one academic field, Foucault’s conceptual tools offer a flexible and dynamic framework for interrogating the evolution of state power, the organization of knowledge, and the mechanisms of social control.

Michel Foucault has proven to be an invaluable hermeneutical toolkit for recent socio-political developments. The Covid pandemic and biopolitics, the persistence of neoliberalism and its effects on life. The most recent research done on Foucault as an instigator of economic theology (Stimilli 2015) or recent works on the linkage between Foucault and the Reformation (Lindholm and Di Carlo 2024), Foucault and Tacitus (Di Carlo 2024, Ferraro 2024) and Foucault and the US Supreme Court (Di Carlo 2024b) prove the importance and the significance of Foucault.

This panel invites contributions that engage with Foucault’s theoretical legacy, whether by applying his concepts to new historical contexts, reflecting on his methodological approach, or reassessing his ideas in light of contemporary geopolitical transformations. We are especially interested in papers that explore how Foucault’s reflections on state power and the art of government can inform current debates on global governance, authoritarianism, and political resistance.

In addition, the panel seeks to highlight the impact of Foucault’s thought on subjects as diverse as linguistics, law, and film studies. We welcome interdisciplinary proposals that either extend Foucault’s methodologies to new domains or critically engage with his intellectual legacy to shape future academic research.

Scholars working in history, philosophy, political science, sociology, linguistics, and related fields are encouraged to submit proposals. The panel aims to foster a rich dialogue on the contemporary significance of Foucault’s work and its ongoing potential for scholarly advancement.

Papers may be submitted from April 1 (after the list of panels is made available) until June 18 2025 or until all available places are filled.

The Young Science Congress is a cyclical international and multidisciplinary scientific conference held at the University of Gdańsk. In 2024, Gdańsk University of Technology and the Medical University of Gdańsk joined the organization of the 4th Young Science Congress.

As part of the project, in dozens of panels, young scientists can present the results of their research, discuss their theses, establish contacts and develop scientifically. The topics of presentations within the conference are not limited – presentations from the exact sciences, experimental sciences, humanities, social sciences and others are planned.