The first two meetings will be facilitated by Eduardo Mendieta, Professor of Philosophy at Stony Brook University.

First meeting:
Chapter One: "10 January 1979" (pages 1-25)
Thursday, November 13, 2008, 7:00-9:00pm
CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, Room 5409

Second meeting:
Chapter Two: "17 January 1979" (pages 27-50)
Thursday, December 5, 7:00-9:00pm
William E. Macaulay Honors College, CUNY, 35 W. 67th St.

About the Seminar:
The Birth of Biopolitics, the latest in the series of Foucault's lectures from the mid-1970s to be translated into English, is remarkably relevant today. Our year-long public seminar will pursue Foucault's question: How do liberal governments produce governable subjects—-individuals who consent to be governed? We will situate the lectures in the context of Foucault's better known work (e.g. Discipline and Punish and History of Sexuality), discuss what he means by biopolitics, consider how the lectures develop his theory of power-knowledge, and debate how this text can help us to refine our understanding of Foucault's intellectual and political project.

The seminar will meet monthly from November 2008 through June 2009. Offering both an accessible introduction to Foucault's work and close critical study of Foucault's lectures, this seminar is open to people with all levels of experience.

This program is supported by the New York Council for the Humanities.

About the faculty:
Eduardo Mendieta is Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, where he is the director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. He is co-editor of Biopolitics and Racism: Foucauldian Genealogies (SUNY Press, forthcoming) and author of Global Fragments: Globalizations, Latinamericanisms, and Critical Theory (SUNY Press, 2007), among other books. His current book project is titled, Philosophy’s War: Logos, Polemos, Topos.

Faculty for upcoming meetings include:
--Samuel Binkley, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Emerson College.
--Jeffrey Bussolini, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, College of Staten Island, CUNY.
--Patricia Ticineto Clough, Professor of Sociology, Women's Studies, and Intercultural Studies, Queens College and the Graduate School, CUNY.
--Trent H. Hamann, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, St. John’s University.
--Ananya Mukherjea, Assistant Professor of Women's Studies and Sociology, College of Staten Island, CUNY.
--Alan Rosenberg, Professor of Philosophy, Queens College, CUNY.

To register:

Registration fee: $12/meeting (full series: $50). Student/senior discount: $8/meeting (full series: $35). No one will be turned away for lack of ability to pay.

Special offer — Book discount: Participants may buy the book at our special discounted rate: $21.00 (includes tax-deductible donation to the Foucault Society).

To sign up or for more information, please contact the Seminar Organizers: Michael Jolley (MJolley@gc.cuny.edu) or Shifra Diamond (sdiamond@gwu.edu).

The Foucault Society is an independent, non-profit educational organization offering a variety of forums dedicated to critical study of the ideas of Michel Foucault (1926-1984) within a contemporary context. The Foucault Society is a 501 (c) (3) recognized public charity. As such donations are tax deductible under section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code.

www.foucaultsociety.org

(Please note: Information on the seminar is not yet posted on our website, but will be there soon. Please contact the seminar organizers for information.)