International Center for Cultural Studies

The Missed Appointment: Foucault and China / Le Rendez-Vous Contrarié: Foucault et la Chine

Publication Date｜2019-01-01

Authors｜Alain Brossat

Press｜National Chiao Tung University Press

ISBN｜9789578614260

Synopsis

Alain Brossat attempts to understand why and how Foucault's works ‘bypassed’ the Chinese-speaking world when many of his contemporary bestsellers mentioned ‘China awake’.

When Foucault made a breakthrough in methodology and epistemology by trying to decentralize and turn to Asia, and his turn was not for exporting his product of thought but for testing his product through the Asian 'other', why did he choose Japan but not China? … China or the whole Chinese-speaking world was almost completely a blank or a black hole, at least in Foucault's clear articulation.
　
‘Combining “geophilosophy” (géo-philosophie) with the decolonization perspective of “Global South”, the author re-opens an empty space for a critical political epistemology. He opens up the possibilities that Foucault has left while criticizing Foucault.’ – Huang Kuan-min
　　
‘The book carefully analyzes the fundamental traditional differences between Chinese and Western cultures. Through Foucault's critique of the state, it also analyzes why Focault distanced himself from the French Maoists. Besides, it also includes the discussion of Foucault and Iran, Foucault and human rights, and Foucault's reflection on decolonization.

‘Was the missed appointment between Foucault and China limited to his thought, his speech, and his journey when he was alive? Aren't we continuing the missed appointment with China at this moment, 30 years after the death of Foucault, such as in the thought of Brossat and ours at this moment moment? Perhaps in the future as well?” – Yuan-Horng Chu

The book also includes responses from four scholars. Centering on Foucault's philosophy, this publication demonstrates the visions and real-world concerns of contemporary philosophy.
　　

Jointly recommended by :

Feng-wei Wu   Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Chinese Culture University
Ching-kai Shen   Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Fu Jen Catholic University
Shu-fen Lin   Professor, Graduate Institute for Social Research and Cultural Studies, National Chiao Tung University
Shih-Chian Hung   Associate Professor, Institute of Philosophy, National Sun Yat-sen University
Kuan-hsing Chen   Executive Editor, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies: Movements; Editor-in-Chief, Renjian Thought Review
Yuan-Horng Chu   Professor, Graduate Institute for Social Research and Cultural Studies, National Chiao Tung University
Huang Kuan-min   Research Fellow, Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica
Chien-Hung Huang   Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Trans-disciplinary Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts
Kai-Lin Yang   Professor, Graduate Institute of Trans-disciplinary Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts
Yeh Hao   Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, National Cheng Chi University
Joyce C.Y. Liu   Professor, Graduate Institute for Social Research and Cultural Studies, National Chiao Tung University

| Author

Alain Brossat
Professor Emeritus at the Department of Philosophy, University of Paris 8. Currently a Researcher and ‘Yu Shan Scholar’ at the International Center for Cultural Studies, National Chiao Tung University. His research is mainly on contemporary French philosophy, rethinking democracy through the issues of migration and the subjectivities of the subalterns, and the decolonization of culture and knowledge. Previous publication in Chinese includes: Michel Foucault: Un philosophe dangereux.

| Translators

Sie Cheng-Ruei
PhD student at the Graduate Institute for Social Research and Cultural Studies, National Chiao Tung University. Research interests include: Controversies of Charlie Hebdo, history of French editorial cartoons, and issues of contemporary visual culture. Email: crsie.srcs02g@g2.nctu.edu.tw。

Kuo Liang Ting
Received his BA at National Institute of the Arts and University of Paris 1, and Master in Theatre Studies at University of Rennes 2. Art critic and translator. Currently an Adjunct Lecturer at Department of Chinese Literature, National Chung Cheng University. He has translated Un ethnologue dans le metro by Marc Augé, Allitérations by Jean-Luc Nancy and Mathilde Monnier, L’utilità dell’inutile by Nuccio Ordine, and Fragilité by Jean-Claude Carrière. He also writes for Performance Art Review, Artco and Art Critique.

Lo Hui-Chen
Master in Philosophy, University of Paris 8. A writer and an actress. She has published Rêver L'Auvergne, Paris n'est pas à vendre, The Power of Philosophy, etc. She has also translated Michel Foucault: Un philosophe dangereux and Lacrime di sale.

Mingjie Tang
Received her doctorate at University of Paris 1. Currently an Assistant Researcher, Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Specializes in French philosophy, in particular the archaeology of human science, the problematics of subjects, discourses and extra-discourses, in the light of research from Foucault. Her forthcoming monograph L’usage de la subjectivité-Foucault, une archéologie de la relation will be published by L’Harmattan.

Shih-chun Lin
Graduated from Department of French, studied in France. Currently a PhD student at the Graduate Institute for Social Research and Cultural Studies, National Chiao Tung University. Loves thinking and traveling. Research interests: Modernity.

| Table of Content

Preface   　　| Start again from the Contrary (written by Kai-Lin Yang)
Foucault and China: A Missed Appointment (translated by Sie Cheng-Ruei)
Lyotard, Deleuze, and the Art of Sex… (translated by Sie Cheng-Ruei)

Response I | Foucault, Our Contemporary? (written by Huang Kuan-min)
Response II | The Future of the Missed Appointment: Foucault and China (written by Yuan-Horng Chu)
Response III   | Translation Missing in Action: On Alain Brossat's Ethics of Identity and Hermeneutical Geophilosophy (by Jon Solomon)
Response IV   | The topological space of géo-philosophie: On Methodology (written by Joyce C.Y. Liu)

A Devil in the United States: Foucault and His Critique of North America(translated by Kuo Liang Ting and Lo Hui-Chen)
The Concept and Question of Foucault’s Heterotopia (translated by Mingjie Tang)
Human Rights Today, Under the Field of Global Geopolitical Forces: On Foucault's “Confronting Governments: Human Rights” (translated by Shih-chun Lin)
Provincializing/Deprovincializing Ourselves: A New Lease of Life (translated by Shih-chun Lin)

More detail：https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010810995
NCTU Press：http://press.nctu.edu.tw/press-tea/books/2-2.aspx?sn=354