Foucault News

Fazilleau, K.
L’Indien atemporel d’Edward S. Curtis et le mythe de la race en voie de disparition
(2023) Etudes Anglaises, 76 (2), pp. 157-179.

DOI: 10.3917/etan.762.0157

Abstract
This article aims at highlighting the dynamic link between the photographs of Native Americans taken by Edward S. Curtis between 1898 and 1927, published in his work The North American Indian, and the colonial discourse about the figure of the Indian, particularly the myth of the “Vanishing Indian.”Indeed, Curtis’s primary objective was to “preserve”the culture of an “Indian”whom he considered to be “authentic,””primitive,”and “intact,”which is to say spared from the effects of colonization and Americanization. In this manner, he hoped to portray an Indian from the past, a product of colonial imagery. The study conducted in this article borrows from Michel Foucault’s concept of networks of knowledge and power, to examine how Curtis’s undertaking was fed by colonial discourse and then in turn fed it, thus popularizing the myth of the “Vanishing Indian.”At the intersection between colonial studies and photographic studies, we will see how Curtis’s photographs are plagued with inherent contradictions, similarly to the discourse on the colonized Other. © Klincksieck.

Leonard D’Cruz,
Foucault’s naturalism: The importance of scientific epistemology for the genealogical method, Philosophy & Social Criticism, March 16, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/01914537241235571

Abstract:
This article offers a novel reconstruction of Foucault’s methodology that emphasises his respect for the natural sciences. Foucault’s work has long been suspected of reducing knowledge to power, and thus collapsing into unconstrained relativism and methodological incoherence. These concerns are predicated on a misunderstanding of Foucault’s overall approach, which takes the form of a historico-critical project rather than a normative epistemology. However, Foucault does sometimes make normative epistemological judgements, especially about the human sciences. Furthermore, there are outstanding questions about what secures the descriptive rigour of the genealogical method. To address these issues, I develop two claims that will significantly enrich our understanding of Foucault’s methodology. The first is that Foucault’s respect for the natural sciences is crucial in making sense of his normative epistemological judgements. The second is that the descriptive rigour of his genealogical method derives from the fact it is modelled on empirical inquiry.

Joinau, B.
Cultural Governance and New Forms of Governmentality Focus on the South Korean Case
(2023) Journal of Arts Management Law and Society

DOI: 10.1080/10632921.2023.2280646

Abstract
The paper discusses the reasons behind the dominance of governance in contemporary societies. The techniques of government cannot be understood apart from a critical genealogy of governmentality. This article references Michel Foucault’s analysis of governmentality to analyze the role of governance in arts and cultural management. It argues that, following the governmental state described by Foucault, the contemporary governance state is defined by a new spectacle governmentality. The globalized context of this governmentality produces a simulacrum of governance that tends to substitute for actual outcomes. The South Korean case is used to illustrate this new form of ubiquitous cultural governance. © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Author Keywords
Cultural governance; Foucault; governmentality; South Korea; spectacle