In Spring 2023, we were honoured to welcome Professor Judith Butler for a week of activities and events from April 25th - 28th.
This was fortuitously timed with the announcement of Butler’s new book, Who’s Afraid of Gender?, and Sara Ahmed’s new publication, The Feminist Killjoy Handbook. This presented an unmissable opportunity to platform work around the current anti-gender and anti-trans motivations of the far right, and collect together established and emergent experts in gender- and queer studies for network-building and solidarity.
25th April
The Centre for Gender Studies and Q+ co-hosted a PhD workshop, bringing together students from the Gender Studies PhD workshop and Q+ Rough Drafts. This was a relaxed, less formal workshop, presenting an opportunity for postgraduate students to present their work in progress for peer - and Butlerian! - feedback. The workshop was as valuable as it was exciting, with Professor Butler joining in with the usual camaraderie and questioning.
26th April
On this day, Professor Butler gave their hotly anticipated public lecture, Who’s Afraid of Gender? in advance of the publication of their new book of the same title. This was run in collaboration with Gender Studies and the Department of Sociology, and filled West Road concert hall to capacity, with people visiting internationally for the event. The atmosphere was electric, and the afterparty over at Newnham, graciously hosted by the Cambridge University Butch Society, similarly fantastic. A night to remember - and there is a recording to prove it!
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28th April
After a much-needed day of relaxation of Cambridge sightseeing, we invited Professor Butler to our Queer Solidarities workshop. This was an invite-only roundtable bringing together Q+ collaborators past and present to explore what we have learned from working to bring about cultural and policy change within institutions and in particular, what does and does not work to achieve these changes.
28th April
In the evening of the 28th, Q+ was delighted to welcome Sara Ahmed to Christ's College, where we overfilled the capacity of the Yusuf Hamied theatre as our esteemed Director, Professor Sarah Franklin facilitated a conversation between Dr Ahmed and Porfessor Judith Butler, centred on Dr Ahmed's new book, The Feminist Killjoy Handbook. There followed drinks and celebration! You can find a recording of this conversation as it was captured live linked above.
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