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Foucault and Regimes of Truth

Submitted to Program Units
1: Foucault and the Study of Religion Seminar

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Niki Clements, Rice University, Presiding

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

Foucault’s notion of ‘regimes of truth’ sustains and transforms the analytic framework to approach his classic question of the relation between power and knowledge. The papers in this panel take up this crucial framing and its use for studies in religion, through direct engagements with the trajectory of his work as evinced by the BnF archive, contemporary analyses of political theology and the pressures/elaborations it gives to MF’s lenses, thematic journeys through the methodological and historical shifts of Foucault's project through the figure - of the devil - and reflections on the ‘political history of truth’ through the figure of a martyr.

Papers

  • Maureen Kelly, University of Chicago

    Foucault and Perpetua: Trials in Truth-Telling

    Abstract

    This paper treats passages of the martyrdom account of Perpetua in conversation with the late work of Michel Foucault, in particular the History of Sexuality volume 4:Confessions of the Flesh and the lectures at the College de France (1978 - 2084). The reading parses mechanics of truth-telling and modes of subject formation in the account through its attentions to the practices of truth-telling demonstrated by Perpetua and the rhetorical elements of the martyrdom account itself. In addition, the reading raises a tension in using the Foucauldian frameworks to read the martyrdom account. By driving towards these sites of tension, the discussion aims to address what Foucault's late work can contribute to the study of early Christian martyrdom accounts and what early Christian martyrdom accounts can contribute to the study of Foucault. 

  • Adam Herpolsheimer, Temple University

    Foucault and the Devil

    Abstract

    Michel Foucault never focuses too directly—not theologically, not even genealogically—on anything circumscribing “Satan,” but, as a figure, the Devil is a lurking and constructive presence in various aspects of his theoretical work.  Foucault’s scholastic dealings with the Devil begin conceptually with the historical transition from witchcraft and the persecution of witches to the birth of “medical knowledge” through the medicalization of possession; they somehow culminate a dozen or so centuries earlier as Foucault remarks on a separate evolution: that which relates baptism in the second century with confession by the fifth.  In some ways, “the Devil” is an empty signifier for Foucault, but one that traverses the necessary space to get him where he needs to go.  Ultimately, the Devil serves as a subtle, discursive mark in a Foucauldian matrix that interweaves techniques of power, regimes of truth, forms of knowledge, and technologies of the self. 

  • Alma Fazeli, Monash University

    Reading Foucault’s Political Spirituality through Ali Shariati’s Political Theology

    Abstract

    In this paper, I argue for reading Foucault’s notion of political spirituality through the lens of Ali Shariati’s re-interpretation of (Shi’a) Islam. Considering Foucault’s engagement with Iranian (Shi’a) Islam—mostly through Corbin and Shariati—prior to his travels to revolutionary Iran, bringing Shariati into conversation with Foucault contributes to a more nuanced understanding of political spirituality. To make this conversation possible, I review key aspects of Shariati’s critical theory, present his complex conception of religion (for which he often uses the term irfān), and briefly introduce his re-depictions of prominent Islamic figures from a political perspective. Then, I read Foucault’s key arguments in his 1977–1978 lectures (Security, Territory, Population) at the College de France in conjunction with Shariati’s radical criticisms of institutionalized religion and what he articulates as “religion versus religion”.

  • Niki Clements, Rice University

    Foucault in the BnF Archives

    Abstract

    Foucault's archives are vast; yet the largest collections are situated in Paris at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). Since 2019, I have been working through Foucault's archived drafts, reading notes, and correspondances, in order to tell the story of his last decade. Part of that story is the central role that Christianity places in his History of Sexuality series and the developing genealogy of modern subjectivity.

    In this talk, I'll give a breakdown of (1) what we find in the six different parts of the massive BnF archives and (2) how we can start to make sense of the role of "religion" (typically isomorophic with Christianity, lamentably). One of the few people to consult all six parts (NAF 28730, 28284, 28803, 28804, 29005, and 29070) of the archives, I want to share how the disciplinary strategies in religious studies are particularly necessary for analyzing Foucault's historiographical and conceptual moves. 

Audiovisual Requirements

Resources

LCD Projector and Screen

Other

Online Session

Full Papers Available

Yes
Program Unit Options

Session Length

90 Minutes
Schedule Info

Wednesday, 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM (June Online Meeting)

Tags

#Foucault #ethics #archives #power #sexuality #christianity #islam #truth #politicaltheology
#Foucault
#the Devil
#Satan
#discourse
#power
#knowledge
#truth
#Foucault #ethics #archives #power #sexuality #christianity

Session Identifier

AO26-106