In this year’s Advanced Readings in Cultural Studies seminar, students will examine the work of Michel Foucault, one of the most cited theorists across the humanities and cultural studies. His approach to the study of culture and history has been dubbed, sometimes critically, a “philosophy without philosophers.” This course will introduce you to the “building blocks” of Foucault’s idiosyncratic theory of power, discourse, knowledge, subjectivity, and resistance. We will read excerpts from his lectures as well as excerpts from his seminal works History of Sexuality, Madness and Civilization, and Discipline and Punish. We will also discuss contemporary cultural artifacts as exemplars or challenges to the key concepts of this influential cultural theorist. To enroll, students must have already completed and passed Introduction to Cultural Studies or, with approval from the instructor, an equivalent course demonstrating adequate preparation.