[Air-L] Call-for-Papers: Fifth Annual Social Theory Forum

[Orion Anderson]

CALL FOR PAPERS
Fifth Annual SOCIAL THEORY FORUM
April 16 and 17, 2008, University of Massachusetts Boston

A Foucault for the 21st Century: Governmentality,
Biopolitics and Discipline in the New Millennium

Keynote Speakers Include:

James Bernauer (Boston College)
Charles Lemert (Wesleyan University)
Barbara Cruikshank (UMASS Amherst)
Margaret McLaren (Rollins College)

How relevant is Foucault's social thought to the world we inhabit today?

Foucault is best remembered for his historical inquiries into the origins of
"disciplinary" society in a period extending from the 16th to the 19th
centuries. Today, however, under the conditions of global modernity, the
relevance of his work has been called into question. With the increasing
ubiquity of markets, the break up of centralized states and the dissolution
of national boundaries, the world today seems far removed from the bounded,
disciplinary societies Foucault described in his most famous books. Far from
disciplinary, society today is "post panoptic," as Nancy Fraser has
argued--in a move which seems to confirm Jean Baudrillard's demand that we
"forget Foucault."

Yet in recent years, it has become apparent that Foucault's thoughts on
modern society have not been exhausted, and, indeed, that much remains to be
explored. While ripples from his initial impact on English speaking
scholarship are still evident in such areas as the study of discourse,
sexuality, the body and institutions, it is undeniably the case that new
threads of Foucauldian influence have also become available. For example,
his reflections on "governmentality" have by now garnered a rich scholarly
focus on the conditions of personal life under the economic liberalism. His
work on "biopower" has opened new terrain for political and activist
discourse on globalization and population. His accounts of panopticism and
surveillance have proven relevant to the study of contemporary policing
practices in a post 9/11 world. Indeed, it could be argued that, in the new
millennium, new threads of Foucauldian thought have emerged, enabling richer
understandings of power and subjectivity under uniquely contemporary
conditions.

The conference will feature both invited and submitted papers and
presentations, as well as audiovisual materials. Please send a one-page
abstract or proposal as email attachment (MS Word Format) to
SocialTheoryProposal at ideologiesofwar.com by December 18, 2007.
The aim of the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Social Theory Forum, to be held
on April 16-17, 2008, at the University of Massachusetts Boston, is to weigh
in on the relevance of Foucault's ideas in the context of a new millennium,
and to reassess Foucault's contributions to contemporary social theory in
light of these developments. We invite papers from any disciplinary or
interdisciplinary perspective, addressing the contemporary application of
Foucault to contemporary social life and social theory. Topics might
include, but are not limited to:

. Governmentality and Neo-liberalism
. Political Spirituality and Contemporary Religious Movements
. Biopolitics, Globalization and Populations
. Race, Genetics and the Politics of Life
. Ethics, Biopower and the Politics of Consumption
. Panopticism and Surveillance in a Post 9/11 World
. Governmentality, Biopower and the Politics of Risk
. Subpolitics, Life Politics and New Social Movements
. Foucault and the Left in a Global Context
. Foucault and the Penal-Industrial Complex
. Ethics, Identity and Individualization
. Genealogy
. Feminism

The conference will feature both invited and submitted papers and
presentations, as well as audiovisual materials. Please send a one-page
abstract or proposal as email attachment (MS Word Format) to
SocialTheoryProposal at ideologiesofwar.com by December 18, 2007.
Proceedings of the conference will be peer-reviewed by anonymous referees
for possible publication in a special issue of The Discourse of Sociological
Practice, the printed and online journal of the Department of Sociology at
University of Massachusetts Boston.
Co-organizers

JORGE CAPETILLO-PONCE (contact for inquiries): Assistant Professor of
Sociology, University of Massachusetts Boston

GLENN JACOBS, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts
Boston; SIAMAK MOVAHEDI, Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts
Boston; SAMUEL BINKLEY, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Emerson College.