Discourse as producer of sexuality and the surveilled body: Michel Foucault and the São Paulo course (1975)

Abstract

This article proposes a reflection on the “First Lecture” delivered by Michel Foucault in the course given at the University of São Paulo (USP) in October 1975, whose central theme was the genealogy of modern knowledge on sexuality. It focuses particularly on Foucault’s critique of the “repressive hypothesis” and on his notion of “micropowers,” paying close attention to the interplay between silencing and the proliferation of discourses. The analysis also situates Foucault’s visit to Brazil within the context of the civil-military dictatorship, the murder of journalist Vladimir Herzog on 25 October 1975, and the ecumenical service held in his memory, which Foucault attended. In this context, the article pursues two main objectives. First, it seeks to understand how the content of Foucault’s “First Lecture” at USP can be related to two mechanisms that produce sexuality in Brazil: the naming and pathologization of sexual practices considered deviant. Second, it examines how the functioning of power relations under the Brazilian dictatorship — particularly through institutions such as the National Information Service (SNI), and their networks of surveillance and information—incited the production of a manifesto-letter and the suspension of classes, while simultaneously producing a surveilled body: Foucault’s own.