Gender has become one of the most divisive topics of the 21st Century. Arguments persist across our political and cultural fabric: “There are only two genders.” “There are numerous genders, and the same person can identify with multiple genders in their lifetime.” “Gender is a culturally constructed idea, and there should be no boundaries assigned to it.” Dr. Judith Butler is one of America’s foremost scholars in feminist philosophy and gender studies. Judith will discuss their years of research, their own views, and answer challenging questions about the roots of various gender ideologies with Dr. Stanley Fish.
Dr. Judith Butler is Distinguished Professor in the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley. Butler is the author of several books, including “Who’s Afraid of Gender?” (2024) and “Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity” (1990). Butler has been active in several human rights organizations, including the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York and the Academic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace. They received the Adorno Prize from the City of Frankfurt (2012) for outstanding contributions to feminist and moral philosophy, the Brudner Prize from Yale University for lifetime achievement in gay and lesbian studies, the Catalan International Prize in 2022, and the American Council of Learned Society for life lifetime achievement (2025). Butler is a member of the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a corresponding fellow of the British Academy. They have received grants from the Mellon Foundation for collaborative work in critical theory and hold 15 honorary degrees.
Dr. Stanley Fish brings more than 60 years of scholarship with him to New College, where he serves as a Presidential Scholar in Residence. His incredible career has included teaching stops at Duke, Johns Hopkins, and Cal Berkeley. There is a dedicated library archive of his work at the University of California, Irvine. He has held the title of DavidsonKahn Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Law, Florida International University since 2005, and Dean Emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The Chicago Tribune named Fish was Chicagoan of the Year for Culture in 2003. In the past thirty years, there have been some two hundred articles, books, parts of books, dissertations, review articles, etc., devoted to his work. Fish earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania and his master's and Ph.D. at Yale. Professor Fish has published more than 20 books. His latest Is Law at the Movies, Oxford 2024.
The New College Office of Public Policy Events seeks to advance civil discourse and engagement through facilitating events that foster open discussion and debate on relevant public policy issues. Such debates or group forums will provide opportunity for a wide range of viewpoints and perspectives to be presented. These events will be open to the public and will include speakers from within and without the state university community that hold broadly divergent and opposing perspectives.
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