Philosophy Workshop-Linda Alcoff:Rape after Foucault May 3, 2012

Philosophy Workshop-Linda Alcoff:Rape after Foucault

Thursday, May 03, 2012 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
The current period is characterized by a stark contradiction in regard to rape. On the one hand, sexual violence is a global epidemic, in both institutionalized and domestic sites, while on the other hand there is a great deal of uncertainty and confusion in the public’s mind, as well as among scholars, about the new categories of date rape and sexual harassment, whether incest and child sexual abuse are as rampant as some claim, and whether we are in the midst of a ‘culture of victimization,’ a social panic, or media sensationalism that over-dramatizes some incidents. The very significance and meaningfulness of sexual violence has become less clear, even while the global numbers stay at epidemic rates.

The work of Michel Foucault has undoubtedly played a role in producing, and justifying, this uncertainty about sexual violence. Foucault sometimes writes as if experience is an epiphenomenon of power/knowledge and discursive formations. Foucault’s followers, like Ian Hacking and Gayle Rubin, have further muddied the waters of the categories of sexual violence.
Clearly, we need to complexify the issue of the experience of sexual violence more than is sometimes acknowledged in the advocacy literature. I argue that such a complexification will actually have positive political effects, enlarging the scope of participants in the public discussion. While rejecting Foucault’s deflationary arguments, I will use Foucault to develop more effective and realistic strategies of resistance. I will also consider the insights he offers about the feedback loop between experience and discourse, and the utility of his accounts of subjugated knowledges and reverse discourses for the purposes of producing a more effective movement against sexual violence. In particular, I will explore the role of the speaking subject in regard to sexual violence---the survivor who speaks as a survivor---in relation to his concept of the complex enunciative modalities that involve distributions of credibility and authority, as well as the dangers of the confessional. These modalities are especially important to consider when survivors speak in the first person.
Location:

6 E 16 St Room D 1103

Admission:
Free; no tickets or reservations required; seating is first-come first-served

Official Website: http://www.newschool.edu/NSSR/eventsList.aspx?id=77682&DeptFilter=NSSR+Philosophy