Susan Bordo is trained in philosophy, but considers herself primarily a cultural historian. This has given her the freedom to write about subjects that range from femininity, masculinity and the body (Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body and The Male Body: A New Look at Men in Public and in Private) to Anne Boleyn (The Creation of Anne Boleyn) and, most recently, The Destruction of Hillary Clinton, a play-by-play account of the gendered double-standards and stereotypes, political forces and media culture that contributed to Clinton’s loss in the 2016 election. Her earlier book, The Flight to Objectivity (1987), analyzes the way that Cartesian metaphysics gave rise to the modern ideal of the disembodied, objective knower, and has become a key text for recent feminist philosophy.
Professor Bordo's widely cited books and articles are considered paradigms of accessible, interdisciplinary, “public” scholarship that raise issues of contemporary relevance, and as a teacher, she helps her graduate students learn to think “beyond the academy” in their own writing. This event is an opportunity to hear her in person, as she discusses her most recent book and her insights into the 2016 election.
Where and When: Johnson Center, George's, JC third floor, 1:30 - 2:45pm.
Dr. Bordo is currently Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and holds the Otis A. Singletary Chair in the Humanities at the University of Kentucky.
October 11, 2017