[Foucault-L] Anthropology

Read this

http://www.generation-online.org/p/fpfoucault1.htm

Chetan Vemuri wrote:

Say, Professor Roberts,
I may have asked this before, but what do you think Foucault's approach to
anthropology was?
Some say his "death of man" implicitly rejected any need for social sciences
with man at their focus such as anthropology but I don't think Foucault
conceived it that simply as they suggest.
Do you view Foucault's pronouncements in The Order of Things about man as
being compatible in anyway with anthropology? I think so but I'm only an
Anthropology minor.

On Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 5:06 PM, Nathaniel Roberts <npr4@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

My thought was that Veyne not so much mis-read Foucault, but just happened
to use the same word to describe something quite different. I am guessing
that he wrote his account prior to Foucault's endowing this word the
special
technical sense that he does in the 1977-8 lectures. Because if Veyne had
written "F revolutionizes history" after these lectures he certainly would
have at least made note of his different usage (and most likely would have
simply chosen to call the practices of roman emperors by a different name).
That is ONLY an educated guess on my part, of course. Others, I am sure,
will posses the more detailed knowledge of Veyne and the history of this
essay's publication needed either to substantiate or falsify my attempt to
make sense of this odd discrepancy in usage.
N

On Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 4:58 PM, Chetan Vemuri <aryavartacnsrn@xxxxxxxxx

wrote:
its funny
i've never found a perfect, birds-eye secondary commentator on Foucault.
Or perfect is a point of view.
Each has his or her own approach based on their specialty or theoretical
paradigm or even axe to grind.
but this is not a revolutionary idea as it was probably obvious to begin
with.

I never thought about that aspect of Veyne's misreading of Foucault's
pastoralism.
I usually have nothing but praise for his understanding of Foucault's

work

on ethics and the care of the self.

On Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 12:47 PM, Nathaniel Roberts <npr4@xxxxxxxxxxxx

wrote:
This is interesting. Because I seem to remember that the way Veyne
describes "pastoral" power in this essay is totally at odds with

Foucault's

own usage, as developed in the 1977-8 lectures ('Security, Territory,
Population') --viz. Veyne ascribes a pastoral logic to the practices of
pre-Christian Roman emperors, whereas for Foucault pastoralism was
precisely
absent in the Greek and Roman contexts (he makes a big deal out of this

in

the 1977-8 lectures).

So perhaps Veyne published the essay earlier in 1978, before having a
chance
to take account of the latest developments in F's conceptual

terminology.

Apart from describing pastoral power in terms totally incompatible with
F's,
however, I've always thought Veyne's essay was a really great one,
especially for helping students to grasp the specificity and brilliance

of

F's method. And yet I am often hesitant to assign it on account of the
confusion that could result with respect to their divergent usage of

this

important term. This difficulty can of course be overcome if one takes

the

time to explain this one point of difficulty to students in advance.

Regards,
Nate

On Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 10:05 AM, Kevin Turner <kevin.turner@xxxxxxxxx

wrote:
Hi Fouad, and thanks for the information.

Actually, looking through the essay again, Veyne references both

"Society

Must be Defended" and "The History of Sexuality" which make it clear

that

the text could not have been written in 1971.

Thanks once again,
Kevin.

-----Original Message-----
From: fkalouche@xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sat, 6 Dec 2008 04:54:50 -0500
To: foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault Revolutionises History

Kevin,

The discrepancy in dates may be related to the fact that Veyne's

book:

Comment on écrit l'histoire: Essai d'épistémologie was initially
published in 1971 and then republished a few times in new editions

that

included "Foucault révolutionne l'histoire." Naissance de la

biopolitique

refers to a 1979 edition of Comment on écrit l'histoire published

in

Seuil's "Points - histoire" series, where "Foucault révolutionne
l'histoire" is cited on pages 227-230 (see endnote 4 of the lesson

of

January 10, 1979, p. 26). However, in the author's list of

publications

("Du même auteur") at the end of the latest book of Veyne on
Foucault--Foucault: sa pensée, sa personne, Albin Michel, 2008,

only

two

editions are mentioned: the 1971 orginal publication and the 1996

edition

in Seuil's "Points - histoire" series.

Furthermore, in his new book menioned above, Veyne refers to a 1978

date

for his essay on Foucault ("Foucault révolutionne l'histoire"). See

page

28, footnote 2.

I do not know if this helps.

Best,

Fouad Kalouche

Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2008 00:43:10 -0800> From:

kevin.turner@xxxxxxxxx>

To:

foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [Foucault-L] Foucault

Revolutionises

History> > Can anybody tell me when this essay by Paul Veyne was
originally written?> > In a text I'm reading it states that it was
written in 1978. In the text itself it also says 1978. But on the
copyright page in A. I. Davidson's edited collection (Foucault and

his

Interlocutors), it states that it was written in 1971.> >

Regards,>

Kevin.> > _______________________________________________>

Foucault-L

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--
Nathaniel Roberts
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
Columbia University
-and-
Part Time Faculty Member
Department of Anthropology
The New School for Social Research
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--
Chetan Vemuri
West Des Moines, IA
aryavartacnsrn@xxxxxxxxx
(515)-418-2771
"You say you want a Revolution! Well you know, we all want to change the
world"
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--
Nathaniel Roberts
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
Columbia University
-and-
Part Time Faculty Member
Department of Anthropology
The New School for Social Research
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