WORLD CONGRESS
Foucault: 40 years after
Second call for proposals
Call for proposals PDF
1. Introduction
Michel Foucault died in Paris on 25 June 1984 at the age of 57. Forty years after his death, his work has continued to attract scholars and the general public. The number of books, as well as the doctoral theses, seminars, and conferences focused on his thought around the world is immense. Due to the posthumous publication of his lectures and unpublished material, Foucault’s international impact has continued increase in the last four decades. In fact, Foucault has now become a fundamental academic reference for any research in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The global impact of his work, as well as the increasing global proliferation of Foucauldian groups and networks justifies giving special significance to the forthcoming commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of his death. This is why we would like to organise a world-wide event dedicated to analysing the last four decades of intense reception of Foucault’s work but also to exploring the current repercussion of his thought. To do so, we would like to invite all researchers working on Michel Foucault’s thought to join the project of holding a World Congress in 2024 that will encompass and examine all aspects of the French philosopher’s intellectual production.
2. Methodology
The global impact of Foucault’s work has reached such an extent that it would be impossible to bring together in one place the different groups working on his philosophy. Therefore, we propose to organise a World Congress that will be held in different venues without losing a sense of unity in terms of format and themes. To make this possible, we propose to constitute an International Scientific Committee (ISC), which will receive the activity proposals from different institutions/groups. These proposals will be considered based on a set of general criteria which will establish the minimum conditions to be met. Once the proposal has been accepted, the organisers of the specific event will receive the World Congress logo, which will include the name of the city where the activity in question takes place. Information about all activities will be gathered on and disseminated through the World Congress website and social networks. This will give an extraordinary visibility to all the events. Each local activity will become part of an unprecedented global initiative which will both highlight the relevance that Michel Foucault’s thought has attained and contribute to widening the audience of readers and researchers on a global scale.
3. Criteria
Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
– Activities should focus on Foucault’s thought and be inspired by the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of his death;
– The ISC will make sure that the topics of the activities do not overlap;
– Activities should be scheduled to be carried out throughout 2024. However, activities should take place between May and June 2024 if possible;
– Activities may be organised as seminars, workshops, colloquia, or conferences, which could be held in one day or more. One-person activities are excluded;
– Online streaming of each activity is highly recommended. Event videos will be gathered on the World Congress website;
– Each activity accepted by the ISC should use the World Congress logo (at the top of this document) for promotional purposes. The name of the city in which the event in question takes place will be included on the side of the logo as shown in the example to the right;
– Coordination of different activities that take place in the same venue is recommended. Such coordination should not affect the topic or the diversity of the participants.
– Activities at different venues in the same country are allowed.
4. International Scientific Committee Members
Rodrigo Castro (Spain – Coordinator)
Daniele Lorenzini (USA)
Edgardo Castro (Argentina)
Clare O’Farrell (Australia)
Ernani Chaves (Brazil)
Santiago Castro-Gómez (Colombia)
Adán Salinas (Chile)
Sverre Raffnsøe (Denmark)
Bernard Harcourt (USA)
Frédéric Gros (France)
Philippe Sabot (France)
Elisabetta Basso (Italy)
Yasuyuki Shinkai (Japan)
Alberto Constante (Mexico)
Jesús Ayala-Colqui (Peru)
Mateusz Ozimek (Poland)
Eugenia Vilela (Portugal)
Vanessa Lemm (UK)
Achille Mbembe (South Africa)
5. Submission of proposals
Proposals for activities should be sent to: foucault40after@gmail.com to the Coordinator of the International Scientific Committee: Prof. Rodrigo Castro. Information about activities should include:
a) The title of the activity
b) A short description (5 lines)
c) The city and country in which the activity is to be held
d) The dates on which the activity is to be carried out
e) The name of the coordinator or person in charge of the activity and their e-mail address.
The deadline for submission of proposals is 2nd of February 2024. Decisions on proposals will be communicated by the end of February 2024. Information on accepted activities will be available on the World Congress website.
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