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SUMMARY:Scientia sexualis versus ars erotica: Foucault\, van Gulik\, Needh
 am\, Orientalism - Leon Antonio Rocha (Department of History and Philosoph
 y of Science)
DTSTART:20090219T163000Z
DTEND:20090219T180000Z
UID:TALK15895@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lauren Kassell
DESCRIPTION:My paper begins with a discussion on the _scientia sexualis_ 
 – _ars erotica_ distinction\, which Foucault first advances in _History 
 of Sexuality Vol. 1: The Will to Knowledge._ The distinction has been repe
 atedly employed by scholars from a range of disciplines: to study D.H. Law
 rence\, or the history of Japanese homosexuality\, or to talk about the _K
 ama Sutra_ and _Perfumed Garden\,_ and indeed in analysis of Chinese sexua
 l alchemy. Though Foucault subsequently expresses his doubts regarding his
  conceptualisation of the 'essential differences' between Western and East
 ern discourses of desire\, he never entirely disowns it. In fact\, Foucaul
 t remains convinced that ancient China must have an _ars erotica._ So I wi
 ll explore the making of _History of Sexuality_ and Foucault's sources of 
 information. To that end\, I introduce the work of Dutch diplomat and sino
 logist\, Robert van Gulik\, who published the tremendously influential _Se
 xual Life in Ancient China_ in 1961\, and also discuss Joseph Needham's wo
 rk on Daoist sexual alchemy. I argue that\, Foucault\, in his fierce polem
 ic against the 'Repressive Hypothesis'\, himself imagined a utopian Other 
 where pleasure and desire would be organised differently. This is another 
 manifestation of the quiet 'Oriental subtext' in the work of the later Fou
 cault. Nevertheless I suggest that the _scientia sexualis_ – _ars erotic
 a_ distinction is still analytically useful if carefully reconfigured: for
  studying the transmission of knowledge and the rhetoric of 'Third-World' 
 intellectuals interested in sex and its power to transform nations\, at th
 e moment of colonial modernity. I end with a discussion of Orientalism\, a
 nd the project of _sinography_ (contrasted to _sinology_)\, associated wit
 h comparative literature scholars Haun Saussy and Eric Hayot.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, History and Philosophy of Science\, Department o
 f
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