Foucault and the Black Panthers

Bibliographic Data

ID12581177
AuthorsBrady Thomas Heiner, Brady Heiner (corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume11
Issue3
Pages313-356
Publication date2007-11-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1360-4813 • E-ISSN: 1470-3629
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13604810701668969
OpenAlexW2147427755
LanguageEN
Citations received36

This paper unearths the relation between French philosopher Michel Foucault and the US Black Panther Party (BPP). I argue that Foucault’s shift from archaeological inquiry to genealogical critique is fundamentally motivated by his encounter with American‐style racism and class struggle, and by his engagement with the political philosophies and documented struggles of the BPP. The paper proceeds in four steps. First, I assess Foucault’s biographies and interviews from the transitional period of 1970--72 that indicate the fact and nature of this formative encounter. Second, I turn to some of the writings of BPP leaders and to the theme of politics and war as they articulated it. Third, I address this same theme of politics as war as it gets taken up and rearticulated by Foucault between 1971 and 1976, with an eye to the degree to which the philosophies and struggles of the Black Panthers silently, yet profoundly, inform Foucault’s genealogical work. I conclude by raising some ethical and political questions pertaining to the criteria of truthful speech in scholarly discourse

American History and Culture · Geology · History of Medicine and Tropical Health · Race, History, and American Society