ENGLISH 569 / WINTER 2013
THEORY: LATE FOUCAULT
Mondays, 1000-1250
Imre Szeman
imre@ualberta.ca
Office hours: by appointment
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The French philosopher and intellectual historian Michel Foucault was one of the most important
and influential thinkers of the twentieth-century. Perhaps his most significant contribution to
intellectual thought and critical cultural analysis has been his re-framing of our understanding of
power. In works such as Discipline and Punish (1977, Surveiller et punir: Naissance de la
prison, 1975) and the first volume of The History of Sexuality (1977, Histoire de la sexualité 1:
la volonté de savoir, 1976) Foucault argued persuasively for the need to view power in modern
societies as de-centred and as having no ‘outside’. The impact of these propositions on theories
of power and the practice of political movements (and the critical orientation of literary and
cultural studies, too) have been enormous. How does one challenge power if it is all-around us in
capillary form? How should we think about freedom if our dreams and desires—that is, our very
selves as subjects—are of necessity constituted by systems of power? What does Foucault’s view
of modern power imply for our understanding of emancipation and of the nature of sovereignty,
collectivity and belonging? And how might it re-orient our critical methods and approaches?
The posthumous publication of lectures offered by Foucault at the end of his life offers a
new vantage point on his ideas about power. The concepts of “biopolitics” and “biopower” now
in use by scholars across the humanities and social sciences were first developed in lecture series
offered by Foucault at the Collège de France between 1975 and 1984, a number of which are
now available in English translation. This course will examine Foucault’s ideas of power by
working through four of the lecture series in some detail. We will look closely at his ideas of
society, governmentality, biopower, biopolitics, and the care of the self, and consider the ways in
which these concepts might shape our views and thinking about politics and culture in the
modern period. In addition to reading Foucault, we will also look at some texts influenced by his
work, especially recent works of cultural criticism and philosophy that draw on his Collège de
France lectures. This course will give students a stronger sense of Foucault’s ideas as well as
providing them with a genealogy of French intellectual thought as it develops in the late
twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Students will not be expected to focus their final papers on Foucault and his ideas, but
may pursue inquiries related more closely to their own research in light of the insights opened up
by our collective analysis of these texts.
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REQUIRED TEXTS
The core books for this course are available at the U of Alberta bookstore. Essays assigned in
addition to these books will be made available to students (via PDFs or articles placed on
reserve in the Salter Reading Room) to copy for their own use.
Core Texts
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vol. I
---. Society Must Be Defended: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975-1976
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---. Security, Territory, Population: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1977-78
---. The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978-1979
---. The Hermeneutics of the Subject: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1981-1982
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COURSE SCHEDULE
January 7
Introduction: One, Two, Many Foucaults?
Foucault, “Critical Theory/Intellectual History”
January 14
History of Sexuality, Vol. 1;
Foucault, “Two Lectures”
January 21
Society Must Be Defended (sections 1-6)
January 28
Society Must Be Defended (sections 7-11); Foucault, “Nietzsche, Genealogy,
History”
February 4
Security, Territory, Population (sections 1-7); Deleuze, “What is a Dispositif?”
February 11
Security, Territory, Population (sections 8-13); Machiavelli, The Prince; Francis
Bacon, “Of Seditions and Troubles” (http://www.bartleby.com/3/1/15.html), Carl
Schmitt, “Definition of Sovereignty”
February 25
The Birth of Biopolitics (
March 4
The Birth of Biopolitics
March 11
Hermeneutics of the Subject; Judith Butler, “Can One Lead a Good Life in a Bad
Life?”
March 18
Hermeneutics of the Subject
March 25
Conference Presentations 1
April 1
Conference Presentations 2
Concluding ideas: Foucault in Alain Badiou’s The Adventure of French
Philosophy and François Cusset’s French Theory: How Foucault, Derrida,
Deleuze, & Co. Transformed the Intellectual Life of the United States (2008)
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April 8
EVALUATION
• Summaries and Short Presentations (3 x 10% each)
• Conference Abstract and Title
• Conference Presentations
• Final Paper
30%
10%
20%
40%
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COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Summaries and Short Reports (3 x 10%)
Students will be expected to present two (2) twenty to thirty minute seminar presentations
during the term. The seminars will focus on one or more of the readings that are assigned
for the class. Your task will not only be to offer a reading/interpretation/overview of the
essay(s), but to
(a) offer context, framing the piece within the work of the writer, the themes of the
course, and the intellectual movements within which it operates;
(b) explain especially difficult concepts in the essay;
(c) describe the core problem or issue that the piece seeks to address (e.g., the
conceptual blockages it hopes to move past, the new paradigm it seeks to create,
etc.); and
(d) to explore what avenues of interpretation/investigation the piece opens up (e.g.,
how does it change our approach to the study of a cultural object or practice?)
Students are expected to create a one to two page handout for their colleagues, which will
be distributed at the beginning of the class. As part of this handout, you should have three
or more additional works with a one to two sentence annotation of what the book or
article is about.
The aim of seminars is for us to learn more together than we could learn along by sharing
our labour. Consider your presentation as a small contribution to the group project of
learning about cultural theory in which we are engaged.
Class Assignments: Short texts on each chapter; one seminar presentation
And then students should pose questions, too.
On 11/11/12, Imre Szeman <imre@ualberta.ca> wrote:
> Students must pick a single quote to begin the short excursis.
Conference Paper Presentation (30%)
• Conference Abstract and Title
• Conference Presentation (paper and presentation)
10%
20%
Students will be expected to develop an original, conference-length paper (10 pages max; 1215 min presentation). This paper will be presented during an in-class conference that will
take place on March 25 or April 1. Each student will get no more than 15 minutes to make
their presentation (they will be timed). As the grade for this element will be based primarily
on their presentation, students should consider the manner in which they plan to present their
work.
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In advance of the presentation, students will be asked to submit a title and a 250 word
abstract of their paper/presentation. This will be due in class on March 18th.
Final Paper (20-25 pages; 40%)
Your final paper may be on any subject as long as it is related to the course material. You
may want to focus directly on a particular concept or theory, exploring the ways in which it
has developed and what its productivity is today. Or you could make use of the ideas and
criticisms that we have engaged in to guide a critical analysis of an image, an object, a form
of technology, a social movement, an institution, an historical development, a text, a political
situation, etc. All references should be cited in proper MLA style. Remember to keep copies
of all your work in case anything goes astray. Essays are due no later than April 22, 2013 by
4:30pm. Please email a copy of your final paper to me!
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Policy about course outlines can be found in Section 23.4(2) of the University Calendar.
The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and
honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty
and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to
familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (online at
www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/secretariat/ studentappeals.cfm) and avoid any behaviour which could
potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or
participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in
suspension or expulsion from the University.
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