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Foucault reading group


Foucault

The Reading Group resumes July 2012

Venue: Top floor of the library seminar room R 614
Queensland University of Technology
130 Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove
Brisbane, Qld, Australia

Map of Kelvin Grove campus.

Time: Tuesdays 12-2 pm People are welcome to join the group at any time.

Email enquiries:

Aims of the reading group

The work of Foucault is now being used widely across an enormous range of theoretical and applied disciplines. Many people using his work don't have the opportunity to interact with others who can help them clarify some of his ideas and suggest further applications. Others may simply be curious to know about Foucault's ideas but are uncertain where to begin. The aim of this group is to provide an informal setting to read and discuss Foucault's work. Members of the group are very welcome to nominate material by Foucault which they would particularly like to discuss.

Online membership

The group has a members only access online space on the Poststructural Theory Network. If you wish to join this network, please click on the link and register and when I have approved your membership then apply to join the subgroup 'Foucault Reading Group'. This space enables me to post news about meetings and other information to members. It also offers the facility for members to make online contact with each other and to post discussion and manuscripts.

Please me if you have any questions

Note to those wishing to participate

  • Let me know if you have any suggestions concerning particular items by Foucault you would like to read or particular subject areas you would like to look at in his work (eg. methodology, medical history, architecture, literary theory, theories of the state etc. etc.) You may wish to consult the bibliography of Foucault's work on this site to help you find material of interest to your own concerns.
  • Participants will be expected to read the set material before coming to each session.
  • Please keep an eye on this website for updates on what's happening with the reading group.

History of the reading group

This group has been running most semesters since 2000

Program and Dates 2012

The focus this semester will be on Foucault's writings on film and media.

24 July

Chapters 17 and 18 of Michel Foucault, (2011) [2009]. The Courage of Truth. Lectures at the Collège de France, 1983- 1984. Tr. Graham Burchell. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan,

7 August

Michel Foucault, "Film and popular memory" S. Lotringer, ed., Foucault live (interviews, 1961-1984), (New York: Semiotext(e), 1996), pp. 122-132. Translated by Martin Jordin.

21 August

Michel Foucault, "Sade: sargeant of sex" J. Faubion, ed., Aesthetics, method and epistemology (New York: New Press, 1998), pp. 223-227. Translated by John Johnston.

Michel Foucault, "The gray mornings of tolerance" J. Faubion, ed., Aesthetics, method and epistemology, (New York: New Press, 1998), pp. 229-231. Translated by Robert Hurley.

Michel Foucault, "The four horsemen of the Apocalypse and the everyday worms" J. Faubion, ed., Aesthetics, method and epistemology (New York: New Press, 1998), pp. 233-234. Translated by Robert Hurley.

4 September

Michel Foucault, "Paul's story" S. Lotringer, ed., Foucault live (interviews, 1961-1984) (New York: Semiotext(e), 1996), pp. 181-185. Translated by Lysa Hochroth.

Michel Foucault,, "I, Pierre Rivière" S. Lotringer, ed., Foucault live (interviews, 1961-1984) (New York: Semiotext(e), 1996), pp. 203-206. Translated by John Johnston.

Michel Foucault, "Passion according to Werner Schroeter" S. Lotringer, ed., Foucault live (interviews,1961-1984) (New York: Semiotext(e), 1996), pp. 313-321. Translated by John Johnston.

18 September

Michel Foucault, "Structuralism and post-structuralism" J. Faubion, ed., Aesthetics, method and epistemology (New York: New Press, 1998), pp. 433-458. Translated by Jeremy Harding.

2 October

Michel Foucault, "The masked philosopher" P. Rabinow, ed., Ethics: subjectivity and truth (New York: New Press, 1997), pp. 321-328. Translated by Alan Sheridan

23 October

Michel Foucault, "What is an author?" J. Faubion, ed., Aesthetics, method and epistemology (New York: New Press, 1998), pp. 205-222.