Religion in Culture Lecture

On Thursday, April 6, 2006, Assistant Professor Utz McKnight, of the Department of Political Science, offered the semester's concluding "Religion in Culture" lecture, entitled, "Living with Politics: Foucault, Christianity, and Race."

Prof. McKnight, who has worked at the University of Alabama for several years, did his doctoral work in Political Science at Lund University, in Sweden. He is the author of Political Liberalism and the Politics of Race (1996). He is one of two political theorists working in our Department of Political Science and he is also a member of the African American Studies faculty.

Using the later work of the French theorist Michel Foucault (1926-1984) --specifically, Foucault's interests in what he termed "governmentalité" (which is itself related to his notion of biopower) as well as his notion of "care of the self"--Prof. McKnight led the audience, by means of conversation, coaxing, and confrontation, to consider not only the ways, but also the types, of selves that we make when using certain categories of thought--such as "race"--that bring with them social and political impact. Posing the question "Who here considers themselves to be White?" he prompted a variety of hands to be raised (somewhat tentatively in some cases). It was this physical act of raising the hand (along with the sometimes tentative nature of the act) that provided McKnight with the opportunity to invite the audience to scrutinize precisely where race resides (that is, what and where race is) in contemporary culture. His highly engaging, and at times entertaining, but always provocative talk investigated a whole series of behavioral moments when race is made an item of discourse.

An edited collection, from a workshop held at the University of Vermont in the Fall of 1982, on Foucault's work on "the self," including his essay, "Technologies of the Self," posted at the bottom of this page.

Fundamental to Foucault's work--much of which was between the 1960s and early 1980s--is the assumption that what we commonly call the individual, or the self, is not a stable thing or something that self-evidently exists. Instead, arguing in a way that might strike many as counterintuitive (especially those who assume that human nature is a stable, universal quality), his work examines the manner in which larger, structural settings (what we might call institutions or, better yet, discourses) actually make selves--that is, provide the conditions in which it is possible to experience oneself as a specific type of self (as having a gender, a class, a nationality, a race). Given that these conditions can change over time, it leads scholars in Foucault's tradition to conclude that the self can be studied as a historical artifact.

Applied to modern conceptions of race--and, given our setting in the contemporary U.S., this inevitably leads to considering the Black/White opposition so commonly used when talking about racial identity--Foucault's work problematizes "taken-for-granted" conceptions of race as a biological trait signified by means of skin color or other such physical features presumed to be inherited across generations. Bringing the notion of govermentality back to the table, McKnight used the hand-raising moment as an instance of when certain sorts of selves are created by means of a social actor inscribing upon themselves a category--doing so in the very act of raising ones hand, in the act of recognizing oneself as a type.

Students in Prof. Murphy's "Nietzsche on Religion" course--a new course in the Department that meets Tuesday and Thursday afternoons--also attended the lecture.

Prof. McKnight's "Religion in Culture" lecture impressively held the audience's attention for two full hours; interaction among those attending, along with many questions and comments for the lecturer, made this a particularly successful event. It marks the first time the Department has sponsored a public lecture during Honors Week.

Thanks to Betty Dickey and Donna Martin for organizing this event. Thanks also to Donna and Melanie Williams for the photographs.

Prof. Maha Marouan, who begins work in the Department as an Assistant Professor as of August 2006, introduces Prof. McKnight's Religion in Culture lecture.

Prof. Utz. McKnight begins his lecture--which, more accurately, ought to be called an intellectual provocation and dialogue with the audience, which was comprised of students and faculty, from several different units on campus, along with members of the local Tuscaloosa community.

Few in the audience were able to avoid getting involved in the very engaging two hour lecture/discussion, which ranged broadly among such topics as Christianity, the work of Michel Foucault, and class--yet always coming back to the significance of, and work accomplished by, the category "race" in contemporary US society

As always, at the conclusion of Prof. McKnight's talk he was presented with a framed copy of the flyer that advertised his talk. A copy of each of these flyers also hang in the Department's seminar room.

Following the lecture--which, once again, took place in Gorgas Library's Henry Jacobs Reading Area--a small reception was held, affording members of the audience the chance to speak with our lecturer. Pictured here, speaking with Prof. McKnight, is Bettina Byrd-Giles, Director of the University's Crossroads Community Center.

Where there's food, there's Religious Studies students! (Though we did hear a subtle complaint or two that there was no cheese and crackers this time...) Pictured, left to right: Tim Davis (sampling the snacks), Chris Hurt, and Brooks Harvard.

Also attending the lecture and reception were (left to right): Justin Nelson, Tsy Yusef, and Eric Forsyth (apparently savoring the taste of a cookie)--all of whom are attending Prof. Murphy's REL 372.

Prof. Marouan, right, pictured along with Betty Dickey, during the post-lecture reception. Prof. Marouan's smile could have something to with her having recently defended her own Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Nottingham, in the UK. As for Betty's smile, when is she not smiling?

Interested in learning more about Michel Foucault?

Read his biography.

Consider reading his essay,
"Technologies of the Self".

Consult a dictionary of
Foucault's terminology.