6/06/2007

Security, Territory, Population

Books & Articles

SECURITY, TERRITORY, POPULATION
Michael Foucault Lectures at the Collège de France

First Edition From Palgrave MacmillanPub
date: May 2007
384 pages $28.95 - Hardcover

Description from publishing

Marking a major development in Foucault's thinking, this book derives from the lecture course which he gave at the Collège de France between January and April, 1978.
Taking as his starting point the notion of "bio-power," introduced in his 1976 course Society Must be Defended, Foucault sets out to study the foundations of this new technology of power over population.
Distinct from punitive, disciplinary systems, the mechanisms of power are here finely entwined with the technologies of security, and it is to 18th century developments of these technologies with which the first chapters of the book are concerned. By the fourth lecture however Foucault's attention turns, focusing on a history of "governmentality" from the first centuries of the Christian era to the emergence of the modern nation state.
As Michel Sennelart explains in his afterword, the effect of this change of direction is to "shift the center of gravity of the lectures from the question of biopower to that of government, to such an extent that the former almost entirely eclipses the former ..."
Consequently, in light of Foucault's later work, it is tempting to see these lectures as the moment of a radical turning point at which the transition to the problematic of the "government of self and others" would begin.
_________________________

"The English translation of Security, Territory and Population is a major event not only for Anglophone readers of Foucault’s work, but for all those concerned with understanding our present social and political condition. These lectures show that the trenchant analysis of biopower, “power over life”, which Foucault had begun in the first volume of the History of Sexuality and which he pursues here in terms of technologies of security, led him to a decisively deeper and more radical formulation of his guiding problematic—what he called “the government of the self and others”—the issue that would serve as the basis for all his subsequent work. Security, Territory and Population might thus properly be called the ‘missing link’ that reveals the underlying unity of Foucault’s later thought... Burchell’s translation is meticulous, supple, and attentive to the nuances of Foucault’s fluid lecture style. We all stand in his debt."-- Kevin Thompson, Book Review Editor, Continental Philosophy Review, Department of Philosophy, DePaul University, USA

"These lectures offer the wonderful opportunity of witnessing a great mind at work. In answering the question of whether the general economy of power in our societies is becoming a domain of security Foucault is never less than erudite, insightful and challenging. Here, probably better than anywhere else, we see the nature of his thoughts on the rationality of modern government." -- Jeremy Jennings, Department of Politics, Queen Mary, University of London, and editor of The European Journal of Political Theory

"Security, Territory, Population' is a stunning display of Foucault's skills of historical research and theoretical insight. Exploring the emergence of 'bio-power'and the 'techniques of security' designed to shape and regulate populations from a distance, Foucault looks beyond disciplinary power to a distinctively modern form of government through freedom. Accessible and highly readable, these lectures have much to tell us about our contemporary situation." -- James Martin, Department of Politics, Goldsmiths, University of London
Contents (read here)
Foreword
Introduction
11 January 1978 (read here)
18 January 1978
25 January 1978
1 February 1978
8 February 1978
15 February 1978
22 February 1978
1 March 1978
8 March 1978
15 March 1978
22 March 1978
29 March 1978
5 April 1978
Course Summary
Course Context
Index of Notions (read here)
Index of Names (read here)
หนังสือเล่มล่าสุดที่ได้รับการแปลเป็นภาษาอังกฤษของฟูโกต์ ใน Security, Territory, Population เป็นการบรรยายถึงอำนาจแบบมหภาค กล่าวถึงวงศาวิทยาของ "ความมั่นคง ดินแดน และประชากร" ของรัฐสมัยใหม่ ซึ่งเกิดขึ้นมานับตั้งแต่ศตวรรษที่ 18 เป็นต้นมา
คุณสามารถอ่านและดาวน์โหลดไฟล์ pdf. ในส่วนสารบัญ ดัชนี และเนื้อหาของบทแรก ดาวน์โหลดฟรีที่นี่

6/05/2007

Foucault's Archaeology

Books & Articles

The use of concepts of discontinuity, rupture, threshold, limit, series, and transformation present all historical analysis not only with questions of procedure, but with theoretical problems. It is these problems that will be studied here (the questions of procedure will be examined in later empirical studies - if the opportunity, the desire, and the courage to undertake them do not desert me). These theoretical problems too will be examined only in a particular field: in those disciplines - so unsure of their frontiers, and so vague in content - that we call the history of ideas, or of thought, or of science, or of knowledge... We must also question those divisions or groupings with which we have become so familiar. Can one accept, as such, the distinction between the major types of discourse, or that between such forms or genres as science, literature, philosophy, religion, history, fiction, etc., and which tend to create certain great historical individualities?

(some text from The Archaeology of Knowledge, 1969) [read more]

อ่าน 3 บทแรกของ AK ได้ที่นี่

Discipline & Punish

Books & Articles

On 1 March 1757 Damiens the regicide was condemned "to make the amende honorable before the main door of the Church of Paris", where he was to be "taken and conveyed in a cart, wearing nothing but a shirt, holding a torch of burning wax weighing two pounds"; then, "in the said cart, to the Place de Grève, where, on a scaffold that will be erected there, the flesh will be torn from his breasts, arms, thighs and claves with red-hot pincers, his right hand, holding the knife with which he committed the said parricide, burnt with sulphur, and, on those places where the flesh will be torn away, poured molten lead, boiling oil, burning resin, wax and sulphur melted together and then his body drawn and quartered by four horses and his limbs and body consumed by fire, reduced to ashes and his ashes thrown to the winds"... "Finally, he was quartered," recounts the Gazette d'Amsterdam of 1 April 1757. "This last operation was very long, because the horses used were not accustomed to drawing; consequently, instead of four, six were needed; and when that did not suffice, they were forced, in order to cut off the wretch's thighs, to sever the sinews and hack at the joints...


(some text from Discipline and Punish, 1975) [read more]

บางตอนจากบทว่าด้วย "ทัณฑ์ทรมาน" (Torture) ใน "วินัยและการลงทัณฑ์" (Discipline & Punish) งานที่ฟูโกต์ใช้วิธีการประวัติศาสตร์แบบวงศาวิทยา (geanelogy) มาเปิดเผยให้เห็นประวัติศาสตร์ของอำนาจที่อยู่ในรูปวินัยของสังคมสมัยใหม่ (อ่านที่นี่)

Foucault and Marxist on State Apparatuses

Interview

It's true that since the late nineteenth century Marxist and 'Marxised' revolutionary movements have been given special importance to the State apparatus as the stake of their struggle.

What were the ultimate consequences of this?
In order to be able to fight a State which is more than just a government, the revolutionary movement must posses equivalent politico-military forces and hence must constitute itself as a party, organised internally in the same way as a State apparatus with the same mechanisms of hierarchies and organisation of powers. This consequence is heavy with significance.
Secondly, there is the question, much discussed within Marxism itself, of the capture of the State apparatus: should this be considered as a straight forward take-over, accompanied by appropriate modifications, or should it be the opportunity for the destruction of that apparatus?
You know how the issue was finally settled.
The State apparatus must be undermined, but not completely undermined, since the class struggle will not be brought to an immediate end without the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Hence the State apparatus must be kept sufficiently intact for it to be employed against the class enemy. So we reach a second consequence: during the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the State apparatus must to some extent at least be maintained.
Finally then, as a third consequence, in order to operate these State apparatuses which have been taken over but bot destroyed, it will be necessary to have recourse to technicians and specialists. And in order to do this one has to call upon the old class which is acquainted with the apparatus, namely the borgeoisie.
This clearly is what happened in the USSR. I don't claim at all that the State apparatus is unimportant, but it seems to me that among all the conditions for avoiding a repetition of the Soviet experience and preventing the revolutionary process from running into the ground, one of the first things that has to be understood is that power isn't localised in the State apparatus and that nothing in society will be changed if the mechanisms of power that function outside, below and alongside the State apparatuses, on a much more minute and everyday level, are not also changed...

(some text from Body/Power in Power/Knowledge) [read more]

ตัดตอนจากบทสัมภาษณ์ว่าด้วย "ร่างกาย/อำนาจ" ใน "อำนาจ/ความรู้" ซึ่งฟูโกต์นำเสนอแนวคิดเกี่ยวกับการต่อต้านอำนาจในระดับร่างกายของบุคคล และโต้แย้งแนวคิดเรื่องการต่อต้านอำนาจในระดับกลไกทางอำนาจรัฐ และวาทกรรมการปฏิวัติของนักลัทธิมาร์กซ์ ด้วยการนำเสนอรูปแบบการต่อต้านอำนาจในชีวิตประจำวัน (อ่านที่นี่)

Power/Knowledge

Books & Articles

Power/Knowledge, Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977


Power/Knowledge: Foucault uses to highlight the fact that every description also regulates what it describes. It is not only that every description is somewhat "biased, " but also that the very terms used to describe something reflect power relations. Discourses promote specific kinds of power relations, usually favoring the "neutral" person or professional using the discourse (the lawyer, psychiatrist, professor, doctor, etc.). In other words, to know is to participate in complicated webs of power.

"อำนาจ/ความรู้" เป็นที่ Foucault ใช้ในความหมายเดียวกับวาทกรรม (discourse) เพื่ออธิบายให้เห็นว่าในสังคมสมัยใหม่นั้น อำนาจและความรู้จะเกี่ยวพันกันอย่างแนบแน่น และเป็นไปไม่ได้ที่เราจะแยกทำความเข้าใจทั้งสองสิ่งนี้ออกจากกันได้

Foucault Studies vol. 4

Books & Articles

Foucault Studies
Vol. 4 (February 2007)

EDITORIAL
An End, and a New Beginning…
Stuart Elden, Clare O’Farrell, Alan Rosenberg, Sylvain Meyet

With this issue, the original editorial team of Foucault Studies steps down, and a new one takes over. The experience of
starting and running a journal has been challenging, frustrating and worthwhile – in probably about equal measure. We began this journal with considerable enthusiasm, which carried us through
the first two issues. Then the reality, enormity and perpetuity of the task began to dawn on us. When we made the decision to discontinue the journal, it was a difficult one to come to,
but perhaps inevitable given the workload and the lack of institutional or publisher support. Ultimately, all the work to be done on the journal fell to its editors –from properly editorial work such as deciding on referees, adjudicating on papers and corresponding with authors;
to the administrative work associated with this; to website design, copyediting, proofreading and production of pdfs. [read more]

วารสารอิเล็กทรอนิคส์เกี่ยวกับฟูโกต์ ฉบับที่ 4
สามารถเข้าไปอ่านและดาวน์โหลดฉบับเต็มได้ฟรีที่นี่