Philippe Chevallier, Foucault: Genealogies for the Future, Rice University, April 19, (2024)
Panel moderated by Cymene Howe, Rice University
Philippe Chevallier, Foucault: Genealogies for the Future, Rice University, April 19, (2024)
Panel moderated by Cymene Howe, Rice University
Michel Foucault, Les hermaphrodites
Édition d’Henri-Paul Fruchaud et Arianna Sforzini. Préface d’Arianna Sforzini, postface d’Éric Fassin
Collection Bibliothèque des Histoires. Gallimard 2025
En 1978, Michel Foucault annonce un volume de son Histoire de la sexualité « consacré aux hermaphrodites ». Avec la réorientation de son enquête vers l’Antiquité, il y a renoncé. Demeure dans ses archives ce manuscrit qui aurait pu en faire l’ouverture. À partir de procès échelonnés entre le xvie et le XVIIIᵉ siècle, il met en lumière le passage d’un régime juridique, attribuant un « sexe de décision », à un régime de véridiction, postulant que chaque individu a un seul et « vrai » sexe, qu’il revient à la science médicale de déterminer. C’est aussi le seul écrit dans lequel Foucault élabore la distinction cruciale, à la fois historique et théorique, entre sexe anatomique et sexualité.
La préface d’Arianna Sforzini présente cette histoire par une lecture attentive des concepts organisant le texte, tandis que la postface d’Éric Fassin en fait ressortir les enjeux les plus contemporains, en analysant les rapports entre sexualité, sexe et genre.
Palti Elias J. Intellectual History and the Problem of Conceptual Change. The Seeley Lectures. Cambridge University Press; 2024
How does long-term intellectual change occur? Can we develop a theoretical framework for understanding past systems of knowledge? In this ambitious study, Elías José Palti seeks to reassess the main concepts in the field of intellectual history. Evaluating modes of thought from the seventeenth century to the present, this book aims to prevent an anachronistic understanding of the texts of the past. Palti rejects the idea of conceptual change as a coherent process deriving from one single source. Instead, he offers a convincing explanation of converging developments emanating from three different sources: namely, the Cambridge school, the German school of conceptual history, or Begriffsgeschichte, and French politico-conceptual history. Intellectual History and the Problem of Conceptual Change also closely examines the temporality of concepts, questioning how and why political languages mutate.
Khan, S. R., Kelly, P., & Brown, S. (2025). The status of women and the cultural politics of Pakistan Studies in postcolonial Pakistan. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 1–13.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2025.2515021
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates how the rights, roles and status of women are presented in Pakistan Studies textbooks (PSTs) for grades 9 and 10, published by Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB). Using a critical discourse analysis to identify and critique power relations embedded in educational discourses, we understand Pakistan Studies textbooks as politically contested and socially shaped and constituted. Drawing on postcolonial theories, postcolonial feminism and Foucault’s work on power relations, we introduce Pakistan as a postcolonial nation-state and describe its history and context in order to problematise the ‘cultural politics’ that produce these textbooks. We argue that patriarchal understandings of gender-relations and stereotypes of women as ‘weak’, ‘vulnerable’ and in need of ‘male protection and supervision’ are normalised in Pakistan Studies textbooks. The paper illustrates how the cultural politics of Pakistan is dominated by an ideology-based national identity that plays a key role in shaping the content of education materials including the curriculum and textbooks.
KEYWORDS:
Pakistan, women’s rights, education, discourse, cultural politics
Koempel, A. (2025). “We didn’t used to be corporate medicine”: The jobification of United States healthcare. Human Organization, 1–12
https://doi.org/10.1080/00187259.2025.2519790
Abstract
In this article I introduce the concept of “jobification” to examine how primary care medicine has transformed from a perceived calling into mechanistic, profit-driven work. Through qualitative research with family physicians in the United States, I explore how the imposition of market and legal logics on the health logic of physicians results in the loss of vocation and the increase of moral injury and burnout. I further elaborate and theorize this by drawing on Weber’s analysis of a “calling” and Foucault’s concept of pastoral power. Institutional programs aimed at improving wellness and self-care recast the latter as under an individual’s direct control, failing to address structural causes that create gaps between physicians and patients. Collective responses to jobification, such as physician unionization efforts, can instigate the process of reframing self-care from individualized coping strategies to collective resistance against current healthcare power structures.
Keywords:
Jobification, self-care, proletarianization, isolationism, alienation, providers, professionals, professionalism
PDF of CFP in English
PDF of CFP in Spanish
Círculo de Estudios Foucaultianos
Call for Papers
II INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM ON MICHEL FOUCAULT
50 YEARS OF ‘SURVEILLANCE AND PUNISHMENT’
November 25 and 26, 2025
Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos [National University of San Marcos],
Lima, Peru
Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (1976) by Michel Foucault, originally published as Surveiller et punir (1975), aims to link “history [une histoire corrélative] with the modern spirit and a new power to judge.” Through a historical retrospective and the punitive methods used against the body, Foucault exposes how discipline is shaped by submission. It is not simply a matter of studying past events, but of conducting a genealogy: investigating how, in this case, modes of repression have shaped the prison of the present.
Today, we see the development of more sophisticated forms of control exercised by governments and technology against citizens. The mechanisms for locating, identifying, and condemning are now more accessible and efficient. Man has ended up normalizing the injustices that turn him into a body that can be manipulated under the logic of power.
With the aim of delving deeper into this work beyond its time and analyzing it in light of current phenomena, we invite Foucauldian scholars to a space for reflection on the conjectures between the work and contemporary social reality. Suggested topics for the event include, but are not limited to:
The event will take place on Tuesday, May 25, and Wednesday, May 26 2025, virtually and in person, respectively. The in-person venue will be the auditorium of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the National University of San Marcos, and the virtual event will take place via the Meet platform.
Submission process and guidelines:
Schedule:
Deadline for receipt: October 24 2025
Notification of acceptance: November 3 2025
Círculo de Estudios Foucaultianos
II COLOQUIO INTERNACIONAL DE MICHEL FOUCAULT
50 AÑOS DE ‘VIGILAR Y CASTIGAR’
25 y 26 de noviembre, 2025
Vigilar y Castigar. Nacimiento de la prisión (1976) por Michel Foucault, publicada originalmente como Surveiller et punir (1975), cumple el objetivo de vincular “la historia [une histoire corrélative] con el espíritu moderno y un nuevo poder de juzgar”. A través de una retrospectiva histórica y de los métodos punitivos empleados contra el cuerpo, Foucault expone cómo la disciplina se configura a partir del sometimiento. No se trata simplemente de estudiar eventos pasados, sino de realizar una genealogía: investigar cómo, en este caso, los modos de represión han dado forma a la prisión del presente.
En la actualidad, se evidencia el desarrollo de formas de control más sofisticadas ejercidas por los gobiernos y la tecnología contra los ciudadanos. Los mecanismos para ubicar, identificar, y condenar ahora son más accesibles y eficiente. El hombre ha terminado por normalizar las injusticias que lo convierten en un cuerpo manipulable bajo las lógicas del poder.
Con motivos de profundizar en esta obra más allá de su tiempo y analizarla a la luz de los fenómenos actuales, convocamos a académicos foucaultianos a un espacio de reflexión sobre las conjeturas entre la obra y la realidad social contemporánea. Los temas sugeridos para el evento incluyen, aunque no son excluyentes:
El evento se llevará a cabo los días martes 25 y mipercoles 26 2025, de manera virtual y presencial, respectivamente. La sede presencial será el auditorio de la Facultad de Letras y Ciencias Humanas en la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, y la modalidad virtual se desarrollará a través de la plataforma Meet.
Proceso de entrega y normas de envío:
Cronograma:
Fecha límite de recepción: 24 de octubre 2025
Notificación de admisión: 3 de noviembre 2025
Thibaud, E. (2025). Reflections on techno-solutionism in education: Manifestations and causes. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 1–12.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2025.2528852
Abstract
Techno-solutionism refers to the belief that many of society’s ills can and should be solved by technology. This paper explores the ways techno-solutionism manifests itself in the field of education: for the past few decades, each new technology trend has been promised to improve the quality of teaching, boost students’ engagement and performances, save time, and increase access to education. The paper starts with the following observation: despite decades of increasing digitalisation of classrooms and development of e-learning tools, neither performances nor equality of access to quality education have significantly improved. From these observations, the paper examines the reasons that education remains fixated on techno-solutionism, despite its disappointing outcomes. It proposes to look at this tension in light of various philosophical concepts, from Foucault’s homo economicus to Biesta’s learnification, to understand the roots of this persistent belief.
Keywords:
Techno-solutionism, education. technology, neoliberalism
INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP
26.09.2025, 9:00h-13:00h (Graz local time)
Link: https://unimeet.uni-graz.at/b/dus-xkx-sud-m3y
Digital Archives as Spaces for Collaborative Research Practices
in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Institut für Digitale Geisteswissenschaften
Department of Digital Humanities
Universität Graz
A-8010 Graz, Elisabethstraße 59/III
+43 316 380 -2292
dh@uni-graz.at
https://digital-humanities.uni-graz.at/de/
In recent years, scholars from various disciplines have been discussing digital archives, sometimes referred to as “archives 2.0”. Different questions are raised, such as what they look like or how they work. One of the basic features of these archives is based on the idea of collaboration in a digital space.[1] Collaborative research is not an easy undertaking, although it seems to be a promising way forward. It involves a joint effort by researchers with different backgrounds, disciplines and institutions to explore a particular topic or project.
Collaborative research is an opportunity to observe evolving systems, such as digital archives, and raise questions about how they shape and change knowledge and research. A focus on collaborative research is consistent with the growing trend in the humanities and social sciences to move away from scholarly critique towards projects with more impactful outcomes. Collaborative research “offers opportunities to develop participatory, adaptive, improvisational and inventive methodologies”.[2]
The main aim of this workshop is to bring together academics with different disciplinary backgrounds to discuss the possibilities that digital archives offer for collaborative research.
The presentations and discussion will draw on the design and experiences of the Foucault Fiches de Lecture project (https://eman-archives.org/Foucault-fiches/objectifs-projet) and address the following questions:
*How do digital archives shape and transform knowledge and methodologies in the humanities and social sciences?
*What opportunities and challenges do digital archives present for scholars and professionals in academia and cultural institutions?
*What are the interdisciplinary and collaborative dimensions of research involving digital archives?
[1]. Ramsey-Tobienne, A. E. (2016). Archives 2.0: Digital archives and the formation of new research methods. Peitho Journal, 15(1), 4-28.
[2] Ruckenstein, M. (2024). Foreword: The power of collaborative explorations. In M. T. Schäfer, K. van Es, & T. P. Lauriault (Eds.), Collaborative research in the datafied society: Methods and practices for investigation and intervention (p. 14). Amsterdam University Press.
The workshop will take place as a hybrid event. It will be held as an in-person event at the University of Graz with invited speakers and discussants, but will also be streamed online. If you have any question regarding the workshop, please send an email to the organizer
INVITED SPEAKERS
Vincent Ventresque
Triangle, Lyon
https://triangle.ens-lyon.fr/spip.php?article7207
Carolina Verlengia
Triangle, Lyon
https://triangle.ens-lyon.fr/spip.php?article7052
Marie-Laure Massot
CAPHÉS, Paris
https://caphes.ens.fr/massot-marie-laure/
Elisabetta Basso
University of Pavia
https://studiumanistici-old.unipv.it/?pagina=docenti&id=2485
PROGRAM
9:00 – Opening
9.20 – 10.20 Session 1: Presentations
10.20 – 10.30 – Coffee break
10.30 – 11.30 Session 2: Presentations
11.30 – 11.40 Coffee break
11.40 – 13.00 Session 3: Q&A
Organisation and contact:
Dušan Ristić
dusan.ristic@uni-graz.at
Leo McCann et al eds, Elgar Encyclopedia of Critical Management Studies, Edward Elgar, 2025.
[Ed: Several chapters cite Foucault]
This expansive Encyclopedia provides a detailed overview of Critical Management Studies (CMS). This exciting and iconoclastic area of research and scholarship has had a major impact on the academic field of business and management studies, opening up possibilities for exploring radical and liberatory ideas in the often conservative and technicist realm of business school education. Covering many of the substantive areas of CMS, such as control and gender, and providing reflexive discussions and critiques, this Encyclopedia is a vital contribution to this important and unique field.
Vincent Pak, Queer Correctives. Discursive Neo-homophobia, Sexuality and Christianity in Singapore, Bloomsbury Press, 2025
Description
Queer Correctives explores Christian discourses of sex and sexuality in Singapore to argue that metanoia, the theological concept of spiritual transformation, can be read as a form of neo-homophobia that coaxes change in the queer individual.
In Singapore, Christian discourses of sex and sexuality have materialised in the form of testimonials that detail the pain and suffering of homosexuality, and how Christianity has been a salve for the tribulations experienced by the storytellers. This book freshly engages with Michel Foucault’s posthumous and final volume of The History of Sexuality by revitalising his work on biblical metanoia to understand it as a form of neo-homophobia. Drawing on Foucauldian critical theory and approaches in discourse studies, it shows how language is at the centre of this particular iteration of neo-homophobia, one that no longer finds value in overt expressions of hate and disdain for those with non-normative sexualities, but relies extensively on seemingly neutral calls for change and transformation in personal lives.
Queer Correctives takes Singapore as a case study to examine neo-homophobic phenomena, but its themes of change and transformation embedded in discourse will be relevant for scholars interested in contemporary iterations of Foucault’s concepts of discipline and technologies of the self. Together with interview data from religious sexual minorities in Singapore, it captures a burgeoning form of homophobic discursive practices that eludes mainstream criticism to harm through change and transformation.
Foucault News 