Childhood, development and family in Michel Foucault

• Grant number: 25/00811-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: January 07, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Hélio Rebello Cardoso Júnior
• Grantee: Kaira Neder
• Supervisor: Orazio Irrera
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Université Vincennes Saint-Denis (Paris 8), France
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/00778-6 - From the governmentalization of childhood to psychoanalyzed childhood: an archaeogenealogy of concepts about childhood propagated by specialized knowledge in England ("Eugenics Review" and John Bowlby) between 1942 and 1959, BP.DR

Abstract

This research internship abroad (doctorate) is linked to the doctoral project "From the governmentalization of childhood to psychoanalyzed childhood: an archaeogenealogy of concepts about childhood propagated by specialized knowledge in England ("Eugenics Review" and John Bowlby) between 1942 and 1959" funded by FAPESP (process 2024/00778-6). The doctoral project in question refers to a historiographical analysis of a philosophical nature, based on the Foucauldian perspective, about specialized knowledge about childhood in England (1942-1959). In short, it proposes to carry out a historical analysis of the device formed around childhood at that time by focusing on the conceptual transformation and the technologies of power directed at childhood. In this line, it is essential to consider the conceptual network itself that is mobilized by Foucault when he addresses the theme of childhood. This should be done regarding the main foundations of Foucault's theory (governmentality, biopolitics, the "abnormal"), but also with regard to more specific terms applied to the field of childhood (such as the concepts of development and environment, for example). This is the exercise we intend to investigate in the BEPE project. The research project to be carried out at the Université Paris 8 (Saint Denis) under the supervision of Orazio Irrera has as its main objective a more in-depth philosophical analysis (already underway) of the specific moments in Foucault's work between 1972 and 1978 in which childhood appears. What notions does the author highlight in the theme of childhood? What techniques of power are these notions related to in order to constitute a device of childhood in Foucault's works in the period between 1972 and 1978? Despite never having published any specific research on childhood, it is clear that it is a recurrent theme in his analyses. Furthermore, during the course "Psychiatric Power," Foucault even mentioned his interest in writing a dossier on childhood, something that never came to fruition. This leads us to the second objective, which complements the one of summarizing what has already been published. Specifically, our second objective is to investigate the Michel Foucault archive of unpublished works, manuscripts and reading notes (BnF - NAF), the reading notes and manuscripts returned by the keyword "enfance" (approximately 300 reading notes [notebooks] and the preparatory manuscripts for the courses "The Abnormal" and "Psychiatric Power," in addition to the envelopes containing the abandoned project for the History of Sexuality). The intention is to conduct a general survey of the material (bibliometric) and then select and use elements that prove important to respond to the objective of summarizing the theme of childhood in Foucault. Contact with Professor Orazio Irrera in the face of these objectives is essential, since he is one of the leading names currently in the project of editing and publishing unpublished manuscripts by Michel Foucault, as well as a great scholar of Michel Foucault's work.