Darwin, Queerly: Evolution, Natural Law, & the Diversity of Desire

a lecture by Donovan Schaefer

March 23, Thursday
6:30 pm

Donovan Schaefer, Lecturer in Religion & Science, Trinity College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Darwinian biology is often held up as a heteronormative framework. Natural law theologians who are pro-Darwin see it as a way to glorify straightness, cisness, and heteropatriarchal norms. But a closer examination of Darwinian thought–both within Darwin’s research and subsequent developments in evolutionary theory–shows that Darwin can be coupled with contemporary queer and trans* theory. Darwin is a passionate partisan of difference, becoming, vital materiality, and the diversity of desire.

Performance Studies Studio
721 Broadway, 6th Floor, Room 612

Co-sponsored by the NYU Animal Studies Initiative, Center for the Study of Gender & Sexuality and Department of Performance Studies, and by the journal Studies in Gender and Sexuality.