Foucault and College Life: Dialogue with Peers, Establishment of Chairs

Moderator: Niki Kasumi Clements (Rice University)

Abstract

This session, chaired by Niki Kasumi Clements (Rice University), will focus on Michel Foucault’s institutional and intellectual exchanges with his peers at the Collège de France.

Michel Foucault’s arrival at the Collège de France in 1970 had raised fears among some of political unrest. Dispelling these concerns, the philosopher became a standard part of the Collège de France’s institutional life throughout his years of teaching. The presentation by Aurèle Méthivier (Collège de France) will explore Michel Foucault’s role in the policy for establishing chairs and in the election of new professors, reflecting both his intellectual interests and a commitment to diversifying the faculty and the fields of knowledge taught.

One of the defining features of Michel Foucault’s years at the Collège de France was his relationship with the Roman historian Paul Veyne. In her presentation, Sandra Boehringer (University of Strasbourg) will discuss this bond, which developed gradually within the framework of the Collège de France and, through seminars, shared readings on ancient sexuality, intense discussions, and lively evenings on Rue de Vaugirard, evolved into an intellectual friendship in the fullest sense of the term.

Sandra Boehringer

Sandra Boehringer is a senior lecturer (HDR) in ancient history at the University of Strasbourg. The author of numerous works on gender and sexuality in antiquity, she co-edited, with Daniele Lorenzini, *Foucault, Antiquity, Sexuality* (Kimé, 2016; Routledge, 2022) and, with Laurie Laufer, *After the Confessions of the Flesh: A Genealogy of the Subject in Michel Foucault (Epel, 2020). She has just published Ancient Sexuality: A Modern History (Epel, 2025) as well as a chapter in *The Foucauldian Mind* (ed. D. Lorenzini, Routledge, 2026).

Aurèle Méthivier

Aurèle Méthivier is a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at Paris-VIII University, a member of the Research Group on Foucauldian Archives (GRAF, Paris-VIII University), and a research assistant in the “Moral Questions and Political Issues in Contemporary Societies” chair at the Collège de France. He coordinated the Michel Foucault centennial at the Collège de France, led by Prof. Didier Fassin in 2026, which included an exhibition in partnership with the Bibliothèque nationale de France and a series of lectures.

Niki Kasumi Clements

Niki Kasumi Clements is a professor of religion and philosophy and holds the Watt and Lilly Jackson Chair at Rice University (Houston, United States). A member of the Michel Foucault Center, a visiting scholar at USIAS in 2025 and at the FMSH in 2024, and a specialist in Foucault’s archives at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, she is completing a book devoted to Foucault’s final decade, which will offer the first comprehensive overview of these archives.