Foucault's Orient

Marnia Lazreg is professor of sociology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Her latest publications include Torture and the Twilight of Empire: From Algiers to Baghdad (Princeton, 2008); and Questioning the Veil: Open Letters to Muslim Women (Princeton, 2009).

“Written by a leading sociological theorist of gender with roots in North Africa, Foucault's Orient is the most comprehensive survey to date of the French poststructuralist's perceptions of and writings on non-Western societies… Lazreg's book is an immanent critique in the best sense of the word… Despite its generous and measured tone, Foucault's Orient offers in the end a devastating portrait of one of the most important thinkers of the last few decades, whose pioneering work on punishment and on sexuality continues to resonate.” • Contemporary Sociology“This is a serious and pivotal book that shows the limits of Foucault’s rejection of universalism and humanism. Lazreg’s book allows us to re-read Foucault within his boundaries.” • Massimiliano Tomba, University of Padua.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter 1. The Chinese Encyclopedia and the Challenge of Difference  Chapter 2. Madness and Cultural DifferenceChapter 3. Foucault and Kant’s Cosmopolitan AnthropologyChapter 4. Foucault’s Negative AnthropologyChapter 5. Foucault’s Anthropology of the Iranian RevolutionChapter 6. The Heterotopia of TunisiaChapter 7. The Enigma of JapanChapter 8. Japan and Foucault’s Anthropological BindEpilogueBibliographyIndex