The Department of History & L.R Wilson Institute for Canadian History Present

Messecar lecturer
Dr. Steven Maynard
Queen’s University

Thursday, March 20th, 2025
2:30pm – 4:00pm
Chester New Hall 607B

Steven Maynard is an adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of History at Queen’s University, where he teaches Canadian history and the history of sexuality, along with courses on archives and Foucault. He is the founder and ongoing co-chair of the Canadian Committee on the History of Sexuality, an affiliate of the Canadian Historical Association, and book review editor of the Journal of the History of Sexuality. Steven has been active in the LGBTQ movement for many years and writes frequently on queer history and politics for the mainstream and queer community press.

As part of this event, we will be hosting a Lunch and Learn workshop with Dr. Maynard titled, “Infamous Hamilton – Toward a Queer History of Steeltown” from 12:30-1:30pm. Chester New Hall 607B

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED FOR THIS EVENT:

Following by Lecture
In the Archives of Infamy with Michel Foucault

Dr. Steven Maynard
Messecar Lecture – Abstract

In this lecture, we follow Foucault into the archives. Foucault spent nearly every day of his working life in libraries and archives. Even when not in Paris, lecturing in cities around the world, Foucault sought refuge in local libraries. Using as our touchstone his 1977 essay “The Lives of Infamous Men,” Foucault’s lyrical meditation on his experience of archival research, we will ask: how did Foucault work in archives, what value did he attach to them, and why did he want them so badly? What comes into view is a perhaps unfamiliar Foucault – not the high-powered philosopher-theorist but the archivist-activist-historian. Exploring Foucault’s attachment to the “lowly lives” and “wretched characters” he discovered in the archives, the aim is to find a Foucault usable for historians interested in the historical and political possibilities of archival research.