240192 SE Reading Foucault: The Anthropology of Knowledge, Power and Ethics (P2) (2013S)

Michel Foucault’s work – whether endorsed or refuted – has had major impacts on all social sciences. His impact on Social and Cultural Anthropology can be aligned with the rise of Science and Technology Studies and the general post-Writing Culture tendency to follow Laura Nader’s 1972 urge “to study up”. However, in response, both “the social” and “the cultural” were rigorously defended, not least by Marshall Sahlin’s (in)famous booklet "Waiting for Foucault". This seminar will scrutinize Foucault’s oeuvre from an anthropological perspective. It will give much space and attention to reading and discussing monographs and lectures from all of his working periods. The seminar wants to contrast this reading with prominent anthropological perceptions of Foucault's work by scholars such as Nikolas Rose, Paul Rabinow and Saba Mahmood. Students will be encouraged to critically engage with Foucault’s thought and influence, thoroughly investigating the fundamental theoretical as much as analytical and methodological issues of power, freedom, knowledge, subjectivity and ethics.