Foucault News

Gøtzsche-Astrup, Johan. “The Political Signification of Riots: A Dispositive Perspective on the 2011 England Riots.” Journal of Sociology, (August 2021). https://doi.org/10.1177/14407833211037399.

Abstract
This article suggests a new perspective on the political signification of riots, using the 2011 England riots as a case. The sociological literature tends to look for the political signification of riots in the riots themselves. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s notion of the dispositive, the article develops a new approach that analyses the optical grids in which riots are made visible as objects for thought and action that can be either political or apolitical. By analysing the case of the 2011 England riots, the article shows how the dispositives that made the riots visible make it possible to ascribe a both obscure and radical political signification to the riots. The article opens up a new line of inquiry about the relation between riots and politics, and allows us to reconsider the political signification of riots.

Keywords
disorder, dispositives, Foucault, protest, riots

Soussloff, Catherine M. “Painting for Fools.” Theory, Culture & Society, (August 2021).
https://doi.org/10.1177/02632764211013379.

Abstract
Manuscripts and notes by Michel Foucault on the visual arts recently deposited at the Bibliothèque Nationale reveal a reliance on canonical oil paintings by the ‘old masters’; a respect for the primary sources in the history of European art; an understanding of the necessity of research in both literary and visual sources, particularly self-portraits; and a sense of the value that a certain philosophical milieu – beginning with Sade and Nietzsche and expanding to his near contemporaries, Bataille, Blanchot, and Klossowski – could offer to an understanding of paintings. The essay argues that Pierre Klossowski’s monumental drawing La Nef des fous (1990) provides an essential key for understanding the place of Hieronymus Bosch’s painting of the same title in History of Madness and the centrality of theories of similitude to Foucault’s thinking about visuality ca. 1960–74. The later significance of the figure of the artist for Foucault can be traced to these earlier writings on painting and madness.

Keywords
aesthetics, art, Foucault, History of Madness, Klossowski, painting, visuality

Rajendran, P.
Parrhesia and clinical practice: A case study of Dr. Esdaile’s mesmeric hospital in Hooghly
(2021) Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 13 (2), pp. 1-13.

DOI: 10.21659/RUPKATHA.V13N2.05

Abstract
This paper seeks to explore the complex negotiation between mesmerism (as unauthorised medical practice) and the State by analyzing the singular example of Dr. James E. Esdaile, a Scottish civil surgeon stationed in Hooghly, Calcutta, in the 1840-50s; one of the few known medical practitioners of mesmerism in colonial India. His diary titled Mesmerism in India, and its Practical Application in Surgery and Medicine contains a record of every patient who walked into Esdaile’s clinic in Hooghly complaining of pain, the subsequent interaction that took place between the doctor and the patient, usually in the form of a simple sequence of questions and answers, and a description of the procedure by which the patient was treated. The documentation of Esdaile’s controversial clinical practice offers several important insights into the practice of parrhesia (a theory of truth-telling proposed by Foucault) in conjunction with the practice of mesmerism as medicine. Within the annals of medical history, clinical egodocuments such as Esdaile’s surgical diary exemplify the emergence of a difficult relationship between the historical subject and the desire to speak the truth. It reveals how a unique moment in colonial medical history becomes emblematic of a negative relationship with the parrhesiastic act. © AesthetixMS 2021.

Author Keywords
Colonial medicine; Esdaile; Mesmerism; Parrhesia; Surgical diary

Gravesen, J.D., Birkelund, R.
The discursive transformation of grief throughout history
(2021) Nursing Philosophy

DOI: 10.1111/nup.12351

Abstract
In recent decades, the phenomenon of grief, when you lose a loved one, has been the subject of exploration and discussion among researchers. Because of this, prolonged grief is now recognized as a possible mental disorder as the latest version of the diagnosis manual; ‘International Classification of Diseases’ (ICD-11) being published in 2018 is featuring a new diagnosis called ‘prolonged grief disorder’. The commencement of this new disorder indicates a shift in the way grief is being articulated why the notion of rupture from the French philosopher Michel Foucault is applied as a philosophical approach in this paper. A Foucault-inspired discourse analysis has been prepared and by considering the issue historically and tracing how the concept of grief has been articulated in different time periods throughout history, the aim is to map out the discursive transformation that has taken place and to gain insight into how the societal context has supported and enabled this transformation. This paper takes a historical look back from the 1800s to present and identifies when changes can be observed in the way grief is being articulated. These changes or ruptures are identified in the work of Søren Aabye Kierkegaard, Sigmund Freud and Margaret Stroebe & Henk Schut who all must be assumed to have contributed significantly to how grief is perceived in various historical time periods. The discourse analysis identifies how prominent thinkers have articulated grief in each period and how today’s perception of grief, as a possible mental disorder, both relates to these prominent thinkers but also reflects dominant societal values and ideologies. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Author Keywords
bereavement; foucault; grief; medicalization; mental disorder; pathologization