Monsters of Sex: Michel Foucault and the Problem of Life
This article argues, contra-Derrida, that Foucault does not essentialize or pre-comprehend the meaning of life or bio- in his writings on biopolitics. Instead, Foucault problematizes life and provokes genealogical questions about the meaning of modernity more broadly. In The Order of Things, the 197...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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CBS Open Journals
2018-06-01
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| Series: | Foucault Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://192.168.7.24:443/index.php/foucault-studies/article/view/5528 |
| _version_ | 1797226986315186176 |
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| author | Sarah K. Hansen |
| author_facet | Sarah K. Hansen |
| author_sort | Sarah K. Hansen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article argues, contra-Derrida, that Foucault does not essentialize or pre-comprehend the meaning of life or bio- in his writings on biopolitics. Instead, Foucault problematizes life and provokes genealogical questions about the meaning of modernity more broadly. In The Order of Things, the 1974-75 lecture course at the Collège de France, and Herculine Barbin, the monster is an important figure of the uncertain shape of modernity and its entangled problems (life, sex, madness, criminality, etc). Engaging Foucault’s monsters, I show that the problematization of life is far from a “desire for a threshold,” à la Derrida. It is a spur to interrogating and critiquing thresholds, a fraught question mark where we have “something to do.” As Foucault puts it in “The Lives of Infamous Men,” it an ambiguous frontier where beings lived and died and they appear to us “because of an encounter with power which, in striking down a life and turning it to ashes, makes it emerge, like a flash [...].”
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T14:33:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c9803d09c7fa430bba29eff7bb626535 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1832-5203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T14:33:37Z |
| publishDate | 2018-06-01 |
| publisher | CBS Open Journals |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Foucault Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-c9803d09c7fa430bba29eff7bb6265352024-04-03T01:58:12ZengCBS Open JournalsFoucault Studies1832-52032018-06-012410.22439/fs.v0i24.5528Monsters of Sex: Michel Foucault and the Problem of LifeSarah K. Hansen0California State UniversityThis article argues, contra-Derrida, that Foucault does not essentialize or pre-comprehend the meaning of life or bio- in his writings on biopolitics. Instead, Foucault problematizes life and provokes genealogical questions about the meaning of modernity more broadly. In The Order of Things, the 1974-75 lecture course at the Collège de France, and Herculine Barbin, the monster is an important figure of the uncertain shape of modernity and its entangled problems (life, sex, madness, criminality, etc). Engaging Foucault’s monsters, I show that the problematization of life is far from a “desire for a threshold,” à la Derrida. It is a spur to interrogating and critiquing thresholds, a fraught question mark where we have “something to do.” As Foucault puts it in “The Lives of Infamous Men,” it an ambiguous frontier where beings lived and died and they appear to us “because of an encounter with power which, in striking down a life and turning it to ashes, makes it emerge, like a flash [...].” https://192.168.7.24:443/index.php/foucault-studies/article/view/5528FoucaultDerridabiopoliticslifesex |
| spellingShingle | Sarah K. Hansen Monsters of Sex: Michel Foucault and the Problem of Life Foucault Studies Foucault Derrida biopolitics life sex |
| title | Monsters of Sex: Michel Foucault and the Problem of Life |
| title_full | Monsters of Sex: Michel Foucault and the Problem of Life |
| title_fullStr | Monsters of Sex: Michel Foucault and the Problem of Life |
| title_full_unstemmed | Monsters of Sex: Michel Foucault and the Problem of Life |
| title_short | Monsters of Sex: Michel Foucault and the Problem of Life |
| title_sort | monsters of sex michel foucault and the problem of life |
| topic | Foucault Derrida biopolitics life sex |
| url | https://192.168.7.24:443/index.php/foucault-studies/article/view/5528 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sarahkhansen monstersofsexmichelfoucaultandtheproblemoflife |