Unmasking Currents: Thinking Power and War with Foucault and the Black Panthers

This article explores the relationship between Michel Foucault and the Black Panther Party (BPP). It considers precise points of intersection in late 1968 and 1971, when Foucault was reading BPP texts, and when the Groupe d’information sur les prisons (GIP) produced a booklet on the assassination of...

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Main Author: Jason Demers
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association Française d'Etudes Américaines 2022-12-01
Series:Transatlantica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/20223
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author Jason Demers
author_facet Jason Demers
author_sort Jason Demers
collection DOAJ
description This article explores the relationship between Michel Foucault and the Black Panther Party (BPP). It considers precise points of intersection in late 1968 and 1971, when Foucault was reading BPP texts, and when the Groupe d’information sur les prisons (GIP) produced a booklet on the assassination of renowned political prisoner and BPP member George Jackson. Rather than pursuing claims about causal-chronological influence, the article teases out undercurrents—Nietzsche, Mao, Clausewitz, and revolutionary activist projects—that act as sites of confluence with respect to power and war. It is in the face of the violent state suppression of revolt on either side of the Atlantic that Foucault turns to war as an analytic for civil relations in his lectures at the Collège de France. In the context of such a war, assassination, trial, detention, and other strategic political operations are masked as juridical procedures.
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spelling doaj-art-02b08a41c9cd4154adc8d5d364d0ebe02025-01-30T10:43:25ZengAssociation Française d'Etudes AméricainesTransatlantica1765-27662022-12-01210.4000/transatlantica.20223Unmasking Currents: Thinking Power and War with Foucault and the Black PanthersJason DemersThis article explores the relationship between Michel Foucault and the Black Panther Party (BPP). It considers precise points of intersection in late 1968 and 1971, when Foucault was reading BPP texts, and when the Groupe d’information sur les prisons (GIP) produced a booklet on the assassination of renowned political prisoner and BPP member George Jackson. Rather than pursuing claims about causal-chronological influence, the article teases out undercurrents—Nietzsche, Mao, Clausewitz, and revolutionary activist projects—that act as sites of confluence with respect to power and war. It is in the face of the violent state suppression of revolt on either side of the Atlantic that Foucault turns to war as an analytic for civil relations in his lectures at the Collège de France. In the context of such a war, assassination, trial, detention, and other strategic political operations are masked as juridical procedures.https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/20223powerwarFoucault (Michel)Black Panther PartyGroupe d’information sur les prisonsGeorge Jackson
spellingShingle Jason Demers
Unmasking Currents: Thinking Power and War with Foucault and the Black Panthers
Transatlantica
power
war
Foucault (Michel)
Black Panther Party
Groupe d’information sur les prisons
George Jackson
title Unmasking Currents: Thinking Power and War with Foucault and the Black Panthers
title_full Unmasking Currents: Thinking Power and War with Foucault and the Black Panthers
title_fullStr Unmasking Currents: Thinking Power and War with Foucault and the Black Panthers
title_full_unstemmed Unmasking Currents: Thinking Power and War with Foucault and the Black Panthers
title_short Unmasking Currents: Thinking Power and War with Foucault and the Black Panthers
title_sort unmasking currents thinking power and war with foucault and the black panthers
topic power
war
Foucault (Michel)
Black Panther Party
Groupe d’information sur les prisons
George Jackson
url https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/20223
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