Penal Theories and Institutions: Lectures at the College de France 1971–1972

Abstract

Between 1970 and his death in 1984 (with the exception of a sabbatical in 1977), Michel Foucault delivered an annual series of lectures at the Collège de France. Using tape recordings as well as Foucault’s and others’ notes, the lectures have, since 1997, been published in French (with English translations appearing from 2003). The second lecture series, Penal Theories and Institutions, delivered between November 1971 and March 1972, is the final set of lectures to be published. It is not surprising these lectures have been published last. There were no recordings of the lectures and the editor, Bernard Harcourt, has recreated them from Foucault’s notes. Foucault’s original notations have been included, with crossed out passages detailed in the footnotes. These footnotes are supplemented by extensive endnotes providing context and links to Foucault’s wider scholarship and social activism. Whilst I suspect some readers will find this format frustrating, I found...