Foucault News

Towards precision medicine; a new biomedical cosmology (2018)

Clare O'Farrell

8 July 2018

Vegter, M.W.
Towards precision medicine; a new biomedical cosmology
(2018) Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, pp. 1-14. Article in Press.

DOI: 10.1007/s11019-018-9828-z

Abstract
Precision Medicine has become a common label for data-intensive and patient-driven biomedical research. Its intended future is reflected in endeavours such as the Precision Medicine Initiative in the USA. This article addresses the question whether it is possible to discern a new ‘medical cosmology’ in Precision Medicine, a concept that was developed by Nicholas Jewson to describe comprehensive transformations involving various dimensions of biomedical knowledge and practice, such as vocabularies, the roles of patients and physicians and the conceptualisation of disease. Subsequently, I will elaborate my assessment of the features of Precision Medicine with the help of Michel Foucault, by exploring how precision medicine involves a transformation along three axes: the axis of biomedical knowledge, of biomedical power and of the patient as a self. Patients are encouraged to become the managers of their own health status, while the medical domain is reframed as a data-sharing community, characterised by changing power relationships between providers and patients, producers and consumers. While the emerging Precision Medicine cosmology may surpass existing knowledge frameworks; it obscures previous traditions and reduces research-subjects to mere data. This in turn, means that the individual is both subjected to the neoliberal demand to share personal information, and at the same time has acquired the positive ‘right’ to become a member of the data-sharing community. The subject has to constantly negotiate the meaning of his or her data, which can either enable self-expression, or function as a commanding Superego. © 2018 The Author(s)

Author Keywords
Big data; Foucault; Medical cosmology; Participatory medicine; Precision medicine; ’All-of-Us’ research program

Between kudzu and killer apps: Finding human ground between the monoculture of MOOCs and online mechanisms for learning (2018)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

7 July 2018

Ralph Lamar Turner & Carol Gassaway (2018) Between kudzu and killer apps: Finding human ground between the monoculture of MOOCs and online mechanisms for learning, Educational Philosophy and Theory,Published online: 07 May 2018

DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2018.1465816

Abstract
Although MOOCs have not lived up to previously breathless predictions of disruption, they have had an outsized influence on university administrators who see online learning as a “savior solution” for ever-shrinking budgets. Despite lower student persistent rates, faculty skepticism, and burdensome faculty workloads, the general public and administrative embrace of online learning has been enthusiastic, which may be explained in part using Foucault’s concept of the episteme to view the convergence of the parallel tracks of educational and technological development–the idea of a kind of mechanism for learning. While MOOCs once promised “best professors,” other institutions now promise the “best designed” mechanisms for learning, certified through corporatized quality assurance programs and learning management systems. While this may be appropriate for shopping educational products in a neoliberal marketplace, it seldom addresses human needs. Moreover, the temporal and human constraints that online promises to banish, in fact, continue to exist. Therefore, a more realistic examination of psychological and social factors, pedagogical tools, and the nature of online communication, is needed in order to create a more humane way of teaching, and learning.

Keywords: MOOCs, neoliberalism, Foucault, online education, constructivism, digital episteme, locus of cognition

Archive: Hello hi there (2010)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

6 July 2018

Annie Dorsen, Hello, Hi there

Hello Hi There uses the famous television debate between the philosopher Michel Foucault and linguist/activist Noam Chomsky from the Seventies as inspiration and material for a dialogue between two custom-designed chatbots: every evening, these computer programs, designed to mimic human conversations, perform a new – as it were, improvised – live text.

As Chomsky and Foucault debate language, creativity, the roots of scientific discovery and the nature of political power, the chatbots talk on and on, endlessly circling the questions of the debate, and frequently veering off into unexpected, at times nonsensical, digressions. Purposely low-tech, the chatbots remind us of the optimism of the late 60s/early 70s, when natural language programming was thought to soon crack the code of human language production. This optimism in the face of repeated failure echoes the dynamic in the politics of Chomsky and Foucault — reflecting a similarly fading optimism in the possibility of people to remake our world.

Counter hegemony in post-compulsory art and design and gallery education, through Sartre and Foucault (2018)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

5 July 2018

Matthews, M.
Counter hegemony in post-compulsory art and design and gallery education, through Sartre and Foucault
(2018) Pedagogy, Culture and Society, pp. 1-16. Article in Press.

DOI: 10.1080/14681366.2018.1428220

Abstract
Austerity politics in Britain are edging towards compressed learning and teaching identities, driven by competition for resources and normative standards. Policy changes since 2010 have impacted particularly on the arts, and have had an adverse effect on cultural diversity across society. This situation has international resonance for those encountering protectionist reactions to globalisation. Practitioners in creative fields face dilemmas of agency, as they seek to maintain the presence of their roles, and ability to make choices. This paper focuses on how practitioners in post-compulsory art and design and gallery education challenge hegemonic constructions of the self through practice. It reflects on Herne’s research of relational differences between teachers and gallery educators, raising points for connective interventions as boundary work. A comparative lens draws upon theories of agency to support critically engaged practice. Empirical data is investigated through Sartre’s concept of free will, and Foucauldian negotiations of autonomy. © 2018 Pedagogy, Culture & Society

Author Keywords
Agency; art education; counter hegemony; Foucault; gallery; post-compulsory; Sartre

Language of Original Document: English
Document Type: Article in Press
Source: Scopus

Foucault art doll

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

4 July 2018

from flickr

MEDIODESCOCIDO ART DOLLS es una creación del Artista Plástico argentino Uriel Valentín. Se basa en una fusión de Pintura y Diseño con el concepto de Objeto de Arte. Todos los Dolls de aproximadamente 36 cm de altura son pintados y cosidos a mano; y en su interior, poseen un esqueleto de alambre para darles cierta articulación. Todos son únicos e irrepetibles: No contienen procesos industrializados. Los personajes seleccionados por Uriel están basados en Artistas en los que él se inspira pero también se realizan pedidos Custom a pedido del cliente.

Uriel Valentín nace en Capital federal en el año 1981. Cursa el Magisterio en Bellas Artes (Centro Polivalente de Arte de San Isidro. 1995-1999) donde se recibe de Maestro Nacional de Dibujo. En 2002 Cursa Caracterización Teatral (Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón. Capital Federal). Realizo talleres de Dibujo y Pintura con el Maestro Víctor Hugo Bethencourt. Actual mente vive y trabaja en Capital Federal. En 2002 creó MEDIODESCOCIDO con la idea de poder vivir del Arte por medio de sus pequeñas Obras que combinan Pintura y Dibujo con el Concepto del Objeto.
http://www.facebook.com/urielvalentinpinta

Foucault Studies. New issue June 2018

Clare O'Farrell

1 comment

3 July 2018

Foucault Studies

Number 24, June 2018: Foucauldian Spaces

Table of Contents

Editorial – Special Issue, Foucauldian Spaces
Sverre Raffnsøe

Section in collaboration with Foucault Circle
Introductory Essay: Foucauldian Spaces
Dianna Taylor, Joanna Crosby

Articles
South Africa as postcolonial heterotopia: The racialized experience of place and space
Charles Villet

The 2015 Baltimore Protests: Human Capital and the War on Drugs
Joanna Crosby

Foucault’s functional justice and its relationship to legislators and popular illegalism
Sylvain Lafleur

Round Table Discussion with Lynne Huffer, Steven Ogden, Paul Patton, and Jana Sawicki
Lynne Huffer, Steven Ogden, Paul Patton, Jana Sawicki

Monsters of Sex: Michel Foucault and the Problem of Life
Sarah K. Hansen

From the End of Man to the Art of Life: Rereading Foucault’s Changing Aesthetics
Kenneth Berger

Governing the Voice: A Critical History of Speech-Language Pathology
Joshua St. Pierre, Charis St. Pierre

Translations

Introduction: The Analytic Philosophy of Politics
Giovanni Mascaretti

The Analytic Philosophy of Politics
Giovanni Mascaretti, Michel Foucault

Book Reviews
Subjectivity and Truth review
Stuart Elden

The multiple Foucault and the Modern/Colonial International
Victor Coutinho Lage

Mariana Valverde, Michel Foucault
Christian Hammermann

Richard A. Lynch: Foucault’s Critical Ethics
Oscar Larsson

Heike Delitz, Architectural Modes of Collective Existence: Architectural Sociology as a Comparative Social Theory (2018)

Clare O'Farrell

1 comment

2 July 2018

Heike Delitz, Architectural Modes of Collective Existence: Architectural Sociology as a Comparative Social Theory (2018) Cultural Sociology, 12 (1), pp. 37-57.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1749975517718435

Abstract
This article proposes a cross-cultural, comparative architectural sociology as a means of sociological analysis. It also emphasizes the social positivity of architecture. After a short overview of architectural sociology and its history, the article outlines a sociological theory which sees architecture and related practices as a constitutive ‘mode of collective existence’. The article argues that architecture (in a broad sense) is not a mere ‘reflection’ or ‘mirror’ of society, but rather a constitutive and transformative medium of the imaginary institution of society (Castoriadis), its assemblages (Deleuze), as well as its subjects (Foucault). In other words, it claims that architecture is a material and symbolic ‘mode’ through which societies and individuals are constituted and transformed. As architecture is a cultural technique, which is primarily enacted in relation to bodies, perceptions and affects (rather than in a discursive, reflective way), the social effects of architecture can best be understood and analysed through a comparative lens. Finally, therefore, the article unfolds a tableau of diverse architectural modes of collective existence, thus providing an overview of different socio-architectural constellations. Such a comparative and synchronical view of different societies allows for a sociology of architecture which analyses architectural transformations – both historical and contemporary. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017.

Author Keywords
comparative method; material culture; post-foundational thought; social imaginary; sociological theory; sociology of architecture; theory of society

Future work and summer plans – Shakespeare, Canguilhem, Lefebvre and back to Foucault

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

1 July 2018

Progressive Geographies

Although the Shakespeare Territories book is coming out in a few months, I’ve been back working on Shakespeare. Initially this was for a summary article of the book’s argument for a short article for Territory, Politics, Governance, which should be published fairly soon. Then it has been for the third in what is becoming a sequence of pieces on Foucault and Shakespeare – the others were on ceremony (open access) and madness (forthcoming). This new piece is on contagion, for a conference organised by the Kingston Shakespeare seminar on 23 June. I’ve enjoyed returning to Shakespeare again for this new piece, which has a long discussion of Troilus and Cressida, and a shorter one of All’s Well That Ends Well – two plays I only mentioned briefly in Shakespearean Territories. I’ll also be a speaking about Shakespeare at an event organised by Warwick and RADA for sixth-form…

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SCA graduate students create immersive VR project (2017)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

1 July 2018

SCA graduate students create immersive VR project | Daily Trojan By KARLIE TERUYA, November 8, 2017

With the growth of virtual reality technology, many students are exploring innovative ways to incorporate the technology into artistic and media-related projects. Two students from the School of Cinematic Arts’ media arts and practice program have integrated a virtual reality world in an immersive work, titled “Heterotopias.”

Created by graduate students Noa Kaplan and Szilvia Ruszev, Heterotopias is a virtual reality essay that allows viewers to interact with everyday spaces differently. Set in common areas such as a garden or a cemetery, the project looks to change the way people view their own behavior when responding to their surroundings.

According to Kaplan and Ruszev, the project was inspired by a 1967 lecture given by French philosopher Michel Foucault. The lecture, titled “Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias,” focused on places that people inhabit both physically and mentally. One example he mentioned was mirrors. Foucault questioned the rules that govern people’s behavior in different spaces, the students said, and explored the connection between location and people’s actions.

Prince’s Sign O’ The Times: celebrating 30 years of genius (2017)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

30 June 2018

Prince’s Sign O’ The Times: celebrating 30 years of genius | British GQ BY GEORGE CHESTERTON, 07 Aug 2017

Thirty years ago, Prince released his ninth album, a collection of extraordinary songs that became the greatest record of its generation. The pop prodigy’s postmodern magnum opus obsessed with sex, death and faith remains a milestone of Eighties culture – and the late singer’s ultimate legacy
[…]
Prince’s need to distance himself from the past is evident in his 1986 side-project Camille, in which he assumed an androgynous alter ego, recording his vocals at a slower speed then speeding up the tape to feminise his voice (an old trick of Clinton and Wonder). The electro-R&B songs were a calculated move away from the pop of The Revolution. The idea for Camille came from the 19th-century journals of the French hermaphrodite Herculine Barbin, who was in vogue among American Francophiles (of which Prince was one) thanks to the writings of philosopher Michel Foucault. Like Dream Factory, this would become one of the building blocks of the near-perfect album to come. Prince felt able to shelve Camille as easily as he retired several albums’ worth of material with The Revolution. Producing so much music meant he could always move on to something new – there was no need to see everything through to the end. For him there was no end.