Re: [Foucault-L] The History of Sexuality volume 1 and western vs eastern sexuality

haha
i love the irony
no way is this the happiest season of the year.
especially for us non-christians.


Yeah, Foucault did say in a Japanese lecture that his case studies were
specific to european contexts and would not necessarily be applicable to
societies like Japan, China, India etc. But he did feel that his methods
could be of use outside of the West.



On Sat, Dec 13, 2008 at 5:25 PM, Kaelin Alexander <
kaelin.alexander@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Thomas (and Chetan),
>
> One could also make the argument (which Halperin does) that Foucault's
> overall emphasis on the discursive formation of sexuality already points
> and
> admits to the limits of his stated analysis, while also pointing towards
> the
> usefulness of his methodology in looking at discursive sexual practices in
> other time time periods, and outside the West.
>
> While this sort of thing could easily become a kind of navel-gazing
> claim--"But are we ever discursive enough?"--and sometimes it *does, *a
> work
> that takes this sort of methodology up fairly well is William Naphy's *Born
> to be Gay.* The title here is very misleading, so please don't read too far
> into it. It's a nice, well-researched survey of sexual practices on a more
> global scale--going back, I think to Sumeria. It's better as an
> introductory
> work which points towards *other* texts, but it's still quite informative
> and highly readable.
>
> Apologies for my rather clipped earlier response. It's definitely that time
> of year. "Hap, Happiest Season of All" my foot. Haha.
>
> Best,
>
> Kaelin Alexander
> Graduate Student
> Cornell University
> Department of English
>
> On Sat, Dec 13, 2008 at 6:12 PM, Thomas Lord <lord@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > On Sat, 2008-12-13 at 17:36 -0500, Kaelin Alexander wrote:
> > > Chetan,
> > >
> > > Short answer: No.
> > >
> > > Long answer: Read Halperin's *Saint Foucault.*
> >
> >
> > Perhaps one of the real scholars can fill in my
> > memory on something I half remember: there's a
> > piece by Foucault or a transcript of a conversation
> > where he talks about the application of his ideas
> > outside the west. I don't recall whether he talked
> > about History of Sexuality specifically or not but
> > he did make sort of overarching (his whole program)
> > statements to the effect he was analyzing specific
> > cases and yes those cases were all in what one
> > could informally call "the West" and that while
> > his mode of analysis had applicability elsewhere
> > his historical narrative did not. Does that
> > ring any bells?
> >
> > -t
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Foucault-L mailing list
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Foucault-L mailing list
>



--
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"

Folow-ups
  • Re: [Foucault-L] The History of Sexuality volume 1 and western vs eastern sexuality
    • From: David McInerney
  • Replies
    [Foucault-L] The History of Sexuality volume 1 and western vs eastern sexuality, Chetan Vemuri
    Re: [Foucault-L] The History of Sexuality volume 1 and western vs eastern sexuality, Erik Hoogcarspel
    Re: [Foucault-L] The History of Sexuality volume 1 and western vs eastern sexuality, Chetan Vemuri
    Re: [Foucault-L] The History of Sexuality volume 1 and western vs eastern sexuality, Kaelin Alexander
    Re: [Foucault-L] The History of Sexuality volume 1 and western vs eastern sexuality, Thomas Lord
    Re: [Foucault-L] The History of Sexuality volume 1 and western vs eastern sexuality, Kaelin Alexander
    Partial thread listing: