Teacher Discussion Forums

I want to start a reading and discussion group on Foucault. I need to get a pretty good handle on his ideas for my M.A. program, but studying Foucault alone is pretty demoralizing for me at times.

I hope there are some others in or near Seoul who would be interested in exploring the following works with me.



McHoul, Alec & Wendy Grace, (1993) A Foucault Primer: Discourse, power and the subject. New York: New York University press.

Foucault, Michel, (1970) The Order of Things: An archaeology of the human sciences. New York: Random House (Vintage Books edition)

Foucault, Michel, (1972) The Archaeology of Knowledge & the Discourse on Language. New York: Pantheon Books

Foucault, Michel, (1978) The History of Sexuality: An Introduction. New York: Random House


We will read these works over the period of a year, meeting weekly for discussion. I will arrange discussion questions and organize the reading group into topics and an agenda. I have found some resources on the web (from Foucault reading groups in the states) that will help us to organize ourselves well.

Please contact me (if you are seriously interested) at the address below. Also, if you have any questions please ask me (either as a reply to this post or by e-mail).

Sincerely,

Brian - [email protected]

Have you read Foucault's pendulum? That might be a more gentle introduction for your students. Not really suitible for an MA, though. I'm afraid I can't remember if it had a bibliography or not.

Focuault probably reads a lot easier in French than translated. If your French is up to it, you would do well to read him in the original.

At the risk of being trivial, I enjoyed "Foucault for Beginners (Writers and Readers Documentary Comic Books: 62)
by Lydia Alix Fillingham, Moshe Susser". I always went back to it when other books got too difficult just to give myself a lift. There is a whole series on Derrida, Chomsky, etc.

Andrew: I haven't read it, but I peered at it in Kyobo Books yesterday. Does Eco bring Foucault's ideas to life in that book, or does he mostly just borrow his name?

Stephen: Unfortunately my French isn't up to it, but I agree that it's always better to read writers in their native language. Thanks for the suggestion.

Sally: Is that a comic book? Doesn't sound much like Spiderman I'm definitely interested...thanks for the tip. Don't worry...no pretension here.

yeah the beginner book on Chomsky was truely excellent, really comprehensive and extremely accessible, however could never get my noggin round Foucalt, in whatever language

Yes, it definitely is a comic book style and provides a good visual representation of the ideas that Foucault was trying to put across. I liked the one about Chomsky too! I found that foreign student were less intimidated by these "big" names and "big" ideas when they were presented in this way and all my student colleagues from other countries wanted to borrow them.

Andrew: I haven't read it, but I peered at it in Kyobo Books yesterday. Does Eco bring Foucault's ideas to life in that book, or does he mostly just borrow his name?

To be honest, I read it about ten years ago. I can remember that I liked it, but not much else. Eco does not write rubbish books. Maybe I should reread it myself.

Well, I've been scraping together focus questions and readings from the web. Some very kind Foucault website-organizers have shared their materials, and I have bought Sparks Notes, etc.

It's time for our first gathering. I want to do it on March 27th in Seoul. Any who are truly interested, please email me at [email protected]

We might have gatherings in other parts of the country if people there are serious. I like traveling!