Last friday, one of our POBICS members was invited to celebrate a seminary at the University of Almería (South of Spain). This seminary was focused to degree's student, but some senior lecturers assisted too.
The topic was about biopolitics, and it was focused in the Foucaultian vision. We read the last chapter of "Society Must be Defended" in fact. We prepared some topics or key points in order to begin the seminary, all of them around one question: How can we accept Foucault's premises in their original mean currently? As Rabinow, Rose and other have commented, our society has changed a lot since Foucault was dead, and we have to keep in mind all of these changes (i.e. Chernobyl, the fall of the Berlin' Wall, GMO food, advances in genetics and DNA, bioterrorism, 11-S, anthrax attacks, etc.).
With this points, both students and profesors asked with really interesting ideas about our main purpose. Here some of them:
-Internet as the real revolution in our era.
-Although it could be most easy to think, we must think power as a grid, and not as a focus in hands of a Sovereign.
-We live in a constant state of Emergency, and it has two posible conceptions: a) State of Emergency as a each time more frequent state where we are managed and controlled and b) State of Emergency as a the only place we can scape and live as a nomad without being captured by the State Apparatus (see Deleuze).
-How can we conceive a positive meaning of power (as if power makes us to act and not to punish).
These ideas was the central element in our discussion. We pointed out some ideas about Agamben, especially with the State of Emergency. We also talked about the Rabinow's work when he uses some foucaultian ideas in order to "refresh" it.
And that's all for now. From POBICS, we wish you a so merry Christhmas!!
Photo Credit: Kamil Porembinski
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