Spring 2010

ANT 391 • Foucault and Cultural Studies

Course Description

No single figure has so profoundly influenced contemporary fields of cultural studies and social science as Michel Foucault. The purpose of this seminar is to systematically examine Foucaultís major works in order to comprehend and assess his theoretical and methodological contributions to scholarly research and political activism. Participants in the seminar will engage in close readings of each text, developing a systematic understanding of both his analytical styles and his diverse subjects. The purpose of this engagement is to cultivate studentís abilities to theorize cultural matters and to delineate novel or disparate subjects of study. The final portion of the seminar will feature several works that apply Foucauldian perspectives, drawn from a range of disciplinary orientations. We will not devote time to considering secondary literature on Foucault, privileging instead works that apply theoretical tacks derived from Foucaultís research.

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