Judith Butler, a distinguished figure in feminist theory and literary criticism, will be a visiting professor in Columbia University’s department of English and comparative literature. Ms. Butler, who is currently a professor of rhetoric and comparative literature at the University of California at Berkeley, will be at the the department in a visiting capacity in the spring 2012 and the spring of 2013.
Editor’s Note: This post has been updated.
What a loss–feminist theory and lit crit–that should be priority #1 and any public university. Bye now.
Why is this news? I don’t mean the watches, but rather the professor-watch.
Maybe watches are the news? Perhaps the article was sponsored by Omega. Must be a slow news day.
Anti-zionism is one thing, but I think it’s odd that Columbia would hire someone who has openly endorsed the antisemitic political parties Hamas and Hezbollah (“Yes, understanding Hamas, Hezbollah as social movements that are progressive, that are on the Left, that are part of a global Left, is extremely important.”) See: http://radicalarchives.org/2010/03/28/jbutler-on-hamas-hezbollah-israel-lobby/
This is a tremendous gain for the Columbia community. Our listserves were going nuts this week. It’s so exciting!
According to a student blog at Columbia, the chair of the English department sent this email to grad students:
Dear Graduate Students,
I am thrilled to announce that Judith Butler will be joining our department as a regular faculty member. For each of the next two years she will be a full-time visitor in the spring terms. After that she will be here on a permanent year-round basis.
In spring of this academic year Professor Butler will give a colloquium just for our department to which all faculty and grad students will be invited. It will be our chance to welcome her to our community.
Best, Jean Howard