(Update: I've created both a website and a discussion forum for this project. I hope to start around March 18th, so stop by and take a look! - JA)
There's one thing I've noticed recently: my research efforts increasingly turn towards questions of the self and the way we relate to reality and ourselves through the observation of others. This was one of the points touched upon by David Lyon in his keynote speech at Theorizing the Web, but it has also come up in my recent analysis of Snapchat and my larger dissertation work on the immigration of Russian Old Believers to Oregon in the 1960's.
There's one thing I've noticed recently: my research efforts increasingly turn towards questions of the self and the way we relate to reality and ourselves through the observation of others. This was one of the points touched upon by David Lyon in his keynote speech at Theorizing the Web, but it has also come up in my recent analysis of Snapchat and my larger dissertation work on the immigration of Russian Old Believers to Oregon in the 1960's.
In the past couple of months, I read through Foucault's last two College de France lecture series- The Government of Self and Others and The Courage of Truth- both of which deal with the notion of parrhesia (frankness, a sense of truth-telling) and how it has evolved over time to suit different needs for different truth regimes. I think there is a lot of good material here to discuss, not only for the selfish reasons listed above but also for anyone interested in larger questions of how digital technology- through all of its manifestations and infiltrations- affect notions of the self and methods of veridiction of the self sourced through observation/reflection of others.
To that end, I would like to propose forming a reading group to analyze these two lectures-series delivered by Foucault.
I'm still thinking about how it would work, so nothing is set as of yet. I've used Google Groups before, so that would be my default platform to host a discussion board, but I'm open to any other alternatives. I would like to take between three to six months to read both books, with my preference being to the latter if only to promote deep, rather than surface, reading. The larger goal would be to simply discuss the ideas of the lecture and hopefully make some meaningful connections to the diverse disciplines we all study.
For those of you without ready access to these books, I have a workaround that should help anyone out. Right now I'm gauging interest, so if this sounds like something you would be willing to do let me know either via Twitter (@jsantley) or leave a comment below.
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