The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction in Queereaders

May 03, 2008 Jamie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2010, lgbt, philosophy-theory

Foucault's "History of Sexuality" was assigned twice over the course of my semester; for one class, our theme is the intersection between queer and race theories; for the other, a strict literary (theory) methods foundation. As such, we discussed the text in two very different ways for each of the classes, with one debate focusing largely on the absence of race in Foucault's history; the other, on conceptions of power in the text, and their relation to Foucault's "What Is an Author?" Nevertheles Foucault's "History of Sexuality" was assigned twice over the course of my semester; for one class, our theme is the intersection between queer and race theories; for the other, a strict literary (theory) methods foundation. As such, we discussed the text in two very different ways for each of the classes, with one debate focusing largely on the absence of race in Foucault's history; the other, on conceptions of power in the text, and their relation to Foucault's "What Is an Author?" Nevertheless, I still feel I have only a vague handle on the text, and learned more that one can approach "History" from a number of very different methodologies and find something new in each approach. I think that's positively fabulous, and I'm really looking forward to reading more Foucault soon (god knows, my dept. loves him).

That said, Foucault's capillary-style conception of power is perpetually fascinating to me, even if it veers dangerously close to being fatalist or apolitical, and I love his style. He's shockingly accessible, even if the weighty ideas don't hit you at first. But having been drowning in theory all semester, I really appreciate Foucault's ability to articulate intricate and provocative questions without falling into impenetrable language. I have to say, I can't fault his argument in many ways (besides, as I noted, his seemingly normalizing 'ideal' of the sexual (bourgeois, white) person). His position as a historicist is particularly interesting, because he appears allergic to direct references and mostly averse to footnoting his facts; it's very seductive, potentially dangerous, but in any case, not what you're used to when reading something that purports to be in some sense a "history" of the discursive production of sexuality through the last two centuries.

Provocative, persuasive, and surprisingly accessible--those would be my final words on this one.

UPDATE: Was assigned it. Again. But this time--wait for it--also had to teach it. & it was at that precise moment, as I attempted to clarify Foucault's notion(s) of the mechanisms of power for 30 undergraduates, that I realized I understood hardly anything. Scary & exciting at once, I think. ...more

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Jun 09, 2009 Jesse rated it it was amazing

Shelves: queer-researching, theory, cultural-theory-and-criticism, queer-theory, 1970-s

What can one possibly hope to say, especially in a capsule review? Much more accessible than I was anticipating, and the way it flipped over and then systematically deconstructed a general assumption of mine (and most people, I'd say)--namely, that the steadily increasing discourse regarding sex, sexuality and the human body over the last several centuries has NOT led to a more open and liberated understanding of such topics, but has actually led to more restriction and, inevitably, guilt.

I can' ...more

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