Final call for registrations for the international conference "Engaging
Foucault".
Last date to register is *15th September*.
Date of event: 5-7 December 2014
Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade
Organized by Group for the Study of Public Engagement
To register visit the event page: http://instifdt.bg.ac.rs/fuko_e.html
(apologies for cross-posting)
June 25, 2014 marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of Michel Foucault.
During his lifetime, Foucault was, in his own words, described as an
anarchist and a leftist; a covert Marxist or an explicit or covert
anti-Marxist; a nihilist, a technocrat in the service of Gaullism, and a
neoliberal. In addition, Foucault can also be described as an intellectual
who cannot be aligned or positioned within the existing matrices of thought
and action, especially when defined ideologically. How should one
understand the societal and political implications of Foucault’s work?
These dilemmas remain very much unresolved today.
The conference “Engaging Foucault” will gather international and regional
theorists who have engaged with Foucault’s work, either endorsing or
disputing the main premises of his work. The intended aim of the conference
is to open up space for a general discussion of the actuality of Foucault’s
work. Bearing in mind the specific political economy of truth and power,
about which Foucault wrote extensively, we intend to examine the changes in
scientific and theoretical discourses, as well as the institutions that
produce these changes. In what ways is this production economically and
politically initiated, expanded and consumed? What is the form of control
and dissemination of certain regimes of truth through reforms and old and
new ideological struggles around them? Taking as our point of departure
Foucault’s statement that the role of the intellectual is not merely to
criticize ideological contents supposedly linked to science, or furnish
him/herself with the most appropriate ideology, we want to incite a debate
on the possibilities of “constituting new politics of truth”, advocated by
Foucault. Thus, central to this conference would be the investigation into
the possibilities for (re-)articulating public engagement today: how to
change political, economic, social and institutional regimes of production
of truths? The debate should, in that sense, critically examine the
meanings of emancipatory practices, social movements, contemporary forms of
innovative action and engaged theory through the Foucauldian optic of
bio-politics and ’thanato-politics’, sexuality and (non)identity,
resistance, ’counter-power’, ’techniques of the self’ and the genealogies
of societally engaged practices (e.g. insurrectionary knowledge and
action). In light of the uprisings that have in recent years spread across
the globe and are characterized by a variety of causes and consequences,
this conference should critically reflect on the meaning of ’engagement’ –
what is public engagement, who can be called ’engaged’ and in what sense,
what are the effects of engaged thought and action – in the spirit of
Foucault’s cues.
Foucault".
Last date to register is *15th September*.
Date of event: 5-7 December 2014
Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade
Organized by Group for the Study of Public Engagement
To register visit the event page: http://instifdt.bg.ac.rs/fuko_e.html
(apologies for cross-posting)
June 25, 2014 marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of Michel Foucault.
During his lifetime, Foucault was, in his own words, described as an
anarchist and a leftist; a covert Marxist or an explicit or covert
anti-Marxist; a nihilist, a technocrat in the service of Gaullism, and a
neoliberal. In addition, Foucault can also be described as an intellectual
who cannot be aligned or positioned within the existing matrices of thought
and action, especially when defined ideologically. How should one
understand the societal and political implications of Foucault’s work?
These dilemmas remain very much unresolved today.
The conference “Engaging Foucault” will gather international and regional
theorists who have engaged with Foucault’s work, either endorsing or
disputing the main premises of his work. The intended aim of the conference
is to open up space for a general discussion of the actuality of Foucault’s
work. Bearing in mind the specific political economy of truth and power,
about which Foucault wrote extensively, we intend to examine the changes in
scientific and theoretical discourses, as well as the institutions that
produce these changes. In what ways is this production economically and
politically initiated, expanded and consumed? What is the form of control
and dissemination of certain regimes of truth through reforms and old and
new ideological struggles around them? Taking as our point of departure
Foucault’s statement that the role of the intellectual is not merely to
criticize ideological contents supposedly linked to science, or furnish
him/herself with the most appropriate ideology, we want to incite a debate
on the possibilities of “constituting new politics of truth”, advocated by
Foucault. Thus, central to this conference would be the investigation into
the possibilities for (re-)articulating public engagement today: how to
change political, economic, social and institutional regimes of production
of truths? The debate should, in that sense, critically examine the
meanings of emancipatory practices, social movements, contemporary forms of
innovative action and engaged theory through the Foucauldian optic of
bio-politics and ’thanato-politics’, sexuality and (non)identity,
resistance, ’counter-power’, ’techniques of the self’ and the genealogies
of societally engaged practices (e.g. insurrectionary knowledge and
action). In light of the uprisings that have in recent years spread across
the globe and are characterized by a variety of causes and consequences,
this conference should critically reflect on the meaning of ’engagement’ –
what is public engagement, who can be called ’engaged’ and in what sense,
what are the effects of engaged thought and action – in the spirit of
Foucault’s cues.