Foucault News

Michel Foucault, The Mesh of Power (2012)

Clare O'Farrell

18 June 2013

Michel Foucault, The Mesh of Power, Viewpoint Magazine, 2 (September 2012). Translated by Christopher Chitty
Full article online

We will attempt to proceed towards an analysis of the concept of power. I am not the first, far from it, to attempt to skirt around the Freudian schema that pits instinct against suppression [répression], instinct against culture. Many decades ago, an entire school of psychoanalysts tried to modify and develop this Freudian schema of instinct versus culture, and of instinct versus suppression – I am referring to psychoanalysts in the English as well as the French language, like Melanie Klein, Winnicott, and Lacan, who have tried to show that suppression, far from being a secondary, ulterior, or later mechanism, which would attempt to control a given or natural play of instinct, constitutes a part of the mechanism of instinct, or, more or less, of the process through which the sexual instinct [l’instinct sexuel] is developed, unfolded and constituted as drive [pulsion].

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Also
Christopher Chitty, Towards a Socialist Art of Government: Michel Foucault’s “The Mesh of Power”, Viewpoint Magazine, 2 (September 2012)

How surprising the events of May 1968 must have seemed to Michel Foucault is suggested by a remark made to his life-long partner Daniel Defert in January of that year, following his nomination for a faculty position at the University of Paris Nanterre. “Strange how these students speak of their relations with profs in terms of class war.” Interpretations of this remark will reveal a lot about one’s received image of the late philosopher. Among figures of the New Left he had earned a reputation as an anti-Marxist for disparaging public comments about Jean-Paul Sartre, and the apparent heresies of Les mots et les choses (1966). A younger generation of left-leaning intellectuals, activists, and agitators, exposed only to later portraits of the radical philosopher – the author of Discipline and Punish (1974), megaphone in hand, rubbing shoulders with Sartre and other ultra-gauchistes at protests in the streets of Paris – will probably find the confession disconcerting. Is it possible that he was taken off guard by the political sparks that would set alight le mouvement du 22 mars? He did, after all, arrive in Paris post festum, participating in some of the final rallies at the Sorbonne in late June.

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Ansgar Allen, Using Foucault in education research (2012)

Clare O'Farrell

1 comment

17 June 2013

Allen, A. (2012) Using Foucault in education research, British Educational Research Association on-line resource.

Michel Foucault is frequently cited in educational research. Care should, nevertheless, be taken when reading work that makes use of Foucault as interpretations of Foucault’s ideas vary almost as widely as the uses to which they are put. This resource, designed for those new to Foucault, introduces some of Foucault’s key concepts and explores the challenges faced when implementing Foucault’s theoretical framework.

Petra Carlsson, Foucault, Magritte and negative theology beyond representation (2013)

Clare O'Farrell

1 comment

16 June 2013

Carlsson, P.
Foucault, Magritte and negative theology beyond representation (2013) Studia Theologica – Nordic Journal of Theology. Published online: 20 Feb 2013
https://doi.org/10.1080/0039338X.2012.733729

Abstract
Recent theological writings on the French philosopher Michel Foucault often mention Foucault in relation to negative theology. This article discusses the negative motion in Foucauldian thinking through Foucault’s essay on the Belgian painter René Magritte. On the basis of this discussion, the article sketches a renewed account of negative theology. It is a post-representational account of negative theology in accordance with Foucault’s critique of representation, as presented in his Magritte essay.

DOI: 10.1080/0039338X.2012.733729

Mark Kelly, Michel Foucault’s Political Thought (2013)

Clare O'Farrell

2 comments

15 June 2013

Mark Kelly, Michel Foucault’s Political Thought, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2013

The work of twentieth-century French philosopher Michel Foucault has increasingly influenced the study of politics. This influence has mainly been via concepts he developed in particular historical studies that have been taken up as analytical tools; “governmentality” and ”biopower” are the most prominent of these. More broadly, Foucault developed a radical new conception of social power as forming strategies embodying intentions of their own, above those of individuals engaged in them; individuals for Foucault are as much products of as participants in games of power.

The question of Foucault’s overall political stance remains hotly contested. Scholars disagree both on the level of consistency of his position over his career, and the particular position he could be said to have taken at any particular time. This dispute is common both to scholars critical of Foucault and to those who are sympathetic to his thought.

What can be generally agreed about Foucault is that he had a radically new approach to political questions, and that novel accounts of power and subjectivity were at its heart. Critics dispute not so much the novelty of his views as their coherence. Some critics see Foucault as effectively belonging to the political right because of his rejection of traditional left-liberal conceptions of freedom and justice. Some of his defenders, by contrast, argue for compatibility between Foucault and liberalism. Other defenders see him either as a left-wing revolutionary thinker, or as going beyond traditional political categories.

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Donald Gillies, Educational Leadership and Michel Foucault (2013)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

14 June 2013

Donald Gillies, Educational Leadership and Michel Foucault, Routledge, 2013

Publisher’s site

Description
Drawing from the ideas of Michel Foucault, this book offers a critical examination of today’s dominant discourse of educational leadership. Foucault’s understanding of critique is as a ‘permanent’ ethos in which humans explore the nature of their existence but at the same time query the limits imposed upon them, and probe opportunities for increasing freedom. This book outlines the key concepts in the work of Foucault, and demonstrates how his concepts of discourse, power/knowledge, and governmentality offer an understanding of how ideas of educational leadership and management have emerged, how they serve to establish a discipline, and how they construct individuals – pupils, teachers, and head teachers – in particular ideological ways.

The discourse of educational leadership and management not only represents a specific means of ‘governing’ education but also calls for the development of approved management and leadership skills and behaviours. The related focus on cultivating, valuing, and rewarding effective leaders is eminently suited to Foucauldian critique, which not only questions the basis for its assumptions and norms, but also examines the way in which the subjects of ELMA – today’s educational professionals – are both constructed by the discourse and are called upon to shape themselves accordingly.

Included in the book:

– educational leadership as discourse

– educational leadership as discipline

– power and educational leadership

– governmentality and educational leadership.

By both applying theory and examining empirical exemplars, this volume offers a challenge to dominant leadership discourse and suggests alternative understandings of the field and approaches to practice. The book will be of value to researchers and postgraduate students with an interest in educational leadership, management and administration, as well as to practitioners in the school system.

Stuart Elden, Foucault’s History of Sexuality – an updated table (2013)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

13 June 2013

From Stuart Elden’s blog

Progressive Geographies

In 2005 I published a piece entitled ‘The Problem of Confession’, freely available here. which had a lot of discussion of Foucault’s different plans for his History of Sexuality and the issues that revolved around them. That piece had a summary table of the plans, the lecture courses and related material. In 2011 I updated the table in the light of new publications and information, and I did so again for the lecture in Newfoundland last week. The table is in a pdf here; or click on the image below for a larger version. It might be useful to others.

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Angela Oels, Rendering climate change governable by risk: From probability to contingency (2013)

Clare O'Farrell

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12 June 2013

Oels, A.(2013), Rendering climate change governable by risk: From probability to contingency Geoforum, 45, pp. 17-29.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2011.09.007

Abstract
In this paper, I use Foucault’s concept of governmentality to investigate changes in the risk management of climate change. In an exploratory analysis of primary and secondary sources, I demonstrate that the risk construction of climate change has shifted significantly from 1988 to 2010. Risk construction has broadened, and related policies now include mitigation, adaptation and disaster preparedness. Furthermore, I demonstrate that the meaning of ‘security’ and the related modes of risk management have shifted over time. I show that traditional science-based risk management has been dominant in mitigation and adaptation policy. The articulation of climate change as a security issue since 2003 indicates risk management through contingency. I argue that what the Copenhagen School has studied as the ‘failed securitization’ of climate change and a lack of extraordinary measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions are better understood as the ‘climatization’ of security. The governmental rationale since 2007 has been to prepare for and manage the ‘inevitable’ primary and secondary impacts of unmitigated climate change.

Author Keywords
Climate; Foucault; Governmentality; Risk; Securitization; Security

Index Keywords
carbon emission, climate change, contingent valuation, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gas, hazard management, policy analysis, probability, risk assessment

DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2011.09.007

Tim Rayner, Foucault and social media: life in a virtual panopticon (2012)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

11 June 2013

Philosophy for change

This is the first instalment in a three-part series.

Part 2. I tweet, therefore I become
Part 3. The call of the crowd

——————————————-

You start the day bleary-eyed and anxious. You stayed up late last night working on a post for your blog, gathering facts and memes from about the web and weaving them into an incisive whole. Has it produced a spike in the stats? You sign in on your iPhone as you brew the coffee. But it’s too early to slip into the professional headspace – you decide that you don’t want to know. Someone has messaged you on Facebook, so you check that instead. Japanese manga mashup! Killer breaks off the cost of Lombok. Lady Gaga is a man and we have photoshopped evidence to prove it! A friend will appreciate that one, so you share it with her directly. Perhaps not something that you’d want…

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David Nowell Smith, Surfaces: Painterly illusion, metaphysical depth (2012)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

11 June 2013

David Nowell Smith, Surfaces: Painterly illusion, metaphysical depth, Paragraph, Volume 35, Issue 3, 2012, Pages 389-406
https://doi.org/10.3366/para.2012.0066

Abstract
This essay analyses the way in which the relation between surface and depth in modern painting is endowed with philosophical significance in the work of Michel Foucault, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Michel Henry. Whereas Foucault considered the work of Magritte and Manet to undermine the notion of depth as such, by showing the movement of ‘similitude’, Merleau-Ponty and Henry saw post-impressionist painting as engendering an experience of depth that exceeds the Cartesian model of space as res extensa. The motif of painterly surface thus brings into debate two significant movements in French twentieth-century thought: structuralism and phenomenology; in each case, the engagement with painterly technique becomes a way of grasping broader questions regarding the relation between perceptual experience and linguistic meaning.

Marnia Lazreg, Poststructuralist theory and women in the Middle East: Going in circles? (2013)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

10 June 2013

Marnia Lazreg, Poststructuralist theory and women in the Middle East: Going in circles? (2013) Contemporary Arab Affairs, 6 (1), pp. 74-81.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17550912.2012.757884

Abstract
This article examines the effects of the uncritical use of the poststructuralist Foucauldian theoretical approach on studies of Middle Eastern women and gender. Focusing on the twin concepts of ’empowerment’ and ‘resistance’ as they have been applied to account for the re-veiling trend among Muslim countries and communities, it explores the epistemic transformation of the explanation of this trend into its justification. It further provides an example of a historicized application of Michel Foucault’s conception of power.

Author Keywords
empowerment; explanation; justification; power; re-veiling; resistance

DOI: 10.1080/17550912.2012.757884