of discipline and civilization - a roundtable discussion on the legacies of norbert elias and michel...

Dublin Institute of TechnologyARROW@DITA02)#+%1 DIT C%-20% &.0 C.-13,/2).- !-$ L%)130% S23$)%12010-01-01Of Discipline and Civilization: a RoundtableDiscussion on the Legacies of Norbert Elias andMichel FoucaultSam BinkleyEmerson CollegePaddy DolanDublin Institute of Technology, P!$$6.D.+!-@$)2.)%Stefanie ErnstUniversity of HamburgCas WoutersUniversity of Amsterdam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oucault Studies, 4.+. 8: //.53877. 53 Sam Binkley, Paddy Dolan, Stefanie Ernst & Cas Wouters 2010 ISSN: 1832-5203 Foucault Studies, No. 8, pp. 53-77, February 2010 ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION The Planned and the Unplanned: A Roundtable Discussion on the Legacies of Michel Foucault and Norbert Elias Sam Binkley, Emerson College, Boston Paddy Dolan, Dublin Institute of Technology Stefanie Ernst, University of Hamburg Cas Wouters, University of Amsterdam Edited by Sam Binkley, Emerson College, Boston IntroductionWhen one considers the proximity of their concerns, it is perhaps surprising that the worksofNorbertEliasandMichelFoucaulthavenotbeenmoresystematically comparedanddiscussed.However,thedifferentiationofdisciplinaryknowledge (particularlytheboundarythatseparatesphilosophyfromsocialtheory),com-pounded by parochialisms fostered by the cult of the intellectual, have delayed this process far past its due.This conversation, which began in 2008 at a conference on the works of Elias and Foucault at the University of Hamburg, is, in this regard, an effort to make up for lost time.Fashioned from hours of discussion recorded on an afternoonattheUniversityofAmsterdaminJune2009,(enrichedandclarifiedby theeditorandparticipantsinseveralroundsofpolishingand revision),thediscus-sion that follows seeks to draw out conflicts and convergences between the trajecto-ries of thought we know as Eliasian and Foucauldian. The History of Interiority and the Reification of Categories Stefanie Ernst: Perhaps a useful way to begin our conversation is with an account of a small discovery I made at the Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach, in Germany1 It wasalettersentfromNorbertEliastoDieterClaessensconcerningFoucaultslast

1 The Deutsches Literaturarchiv (German Archive of Literature) is a centre for the collection and explorationofGermanliteraturefromtheageoftheEnlightenment.Ithousesthecomplete worksofNorbertElias,administeredbytheNorbertEliasFoundation,Amsterdam. http://www.dla-marbach.de/ Binkley, Dolan, Ernst & Wouters: The Planned and the Unplanned 54 minutecancelationofanappearance,atEliassinvitation,ataconferencein Bielefeld.In the letter, Elias reflects on recent news that the reason for this cancella-tionhadbeenFoucaultsfalteringhealth,leadingtohisdyingashorttimelater.Eliaswroteinhisletter,IwasverydisappointedthatFoucaultcouldnotcome.Much tomyregretIhaveheardthathedied*,+muchtooearly