CFA – Workshop: “Confronting (Bio)Capitalism: Critique, Feminism, and Ecology”

May 13, 2025

 

Call for Abstracts

 

International Workshop

 Confronting (Bio)Capitalism: Critique, Feminism, and Ecology

 

13 May 2025

School of Arts and Humanities

University of Lisbon

Event organized as part of the activities of Praxis-CFUL

 

Guest Speaker: Johanna Oksala (Loyola University Chicago)

 

Over the past four decades, Foucault’s work has attained such widespread influence that bringing together all the diverse groups studying his thought in a single space would be deemed impossible. With the posthumous publication of his lectures and previously unpublished works, Foucault’s global impact has only continued to expand. Foucault’s work has become a kind of conceptual infrastructure, an indispensable framework for those seeking to analyze and critique society. Yet, this also raises a paradox: the subversive thinker, the rebel against intellectual orthodoxies, has become an almost official philosopher within contemporary academia. In this context, one might ask: Is there—or should there be—a “true Foucault”? Should one attempt to define an orthodox Foucauldianism, much as Georg Lukács once sought to delineate Orthodox Marxism? What does it mean to be—or to be perceived as—a Foucauldian scholar? And after adopting a Foucauldian approach, is it possible to step outside its framework?

These questions serve as a starting point for an interdisciplinary workshop that explores Johanna Oksala’s significant contributions to the study of Michel Foucault’s philosophy. Her work stands at the intersection of rigorous scholarly engagement with Foucauldian thought and its application to pressing social and political issues. Oksala critically examines Foucault’s perspectives on freedom, politics, violence, and subjectivity, while also extending his ideas through feminist theory, phenomenology, and contemporary political thought. At the same time, her scholarship moves beyond Foucault, as seen in her writings on ecology and climate change. This workshop aims to bring together scholars to engage with Oksala’s innovative frameworks, considering both how her interpretations of Foucault inform current philosophical debates and whether—or to what extent—Foucault remains indispensable to these discussions. Johanna Oksala will be present at the workshop to discuss her work with participants, offering a unique opportunity for direct engagement with her ideas.

 

We welcome contributions that explore, but are not limited to, the following topics:

    • Freedom and power in Foucault’s philosophy
    • Violence, politics, and the state
    • Non-violence and resistance
    • Biopolitics and critiques of neoliberalism
    • Critique of neoliberal subjectification
    • Critique of contemporary biocapitalism
    • Feminist readings of Foucault
    • Foucauldian versus Marxist feminism
    • Foucault and Marx
    • Foucault and phenomenology
    • Capitalism, feminism, and ecology
    • Feminist philosophy as social critique
    • Ecological critique
    • Ecological critique in relation to racism and postcolonial studies

Please submit an abstract (max. 400 words) for a 20-minute presentation by March 19, 2025, including your full name, institutional affiliation, and a short bio (100 words), to mauraceci@edu.ulisboa.pt and rcanales@letras.ulisboa.pt  Decision notices will be sent within a week.

 

The workshop will be conducted in English and held in person only. There is no registration fee, and the organizers cannot cover travel or accommodation costs.

For further details or inquiries, please contact the workshop organizers at the above-mentioned email addresses.

 

Organization: Maura Ceci, Ricardo Mendoza-Canales and Tamara Caraus (Praxis-CFUL)

 

This event is funded by Portuguese national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the scope of the project UIDB/00310, Centro de Filosofia da Universidade de Lisboa.