Following a screening of the film "Bad Education," Lee Edelman, chair of the English department at Tufts University, led a discussion on queer identity.
Known worldwide for his work, Edelman has conducted extensive research in literary theory, specifically queer theory, psychoanalysis and post-structuralism, film studies and modern poetry.
"Queerness is not an identity that anyone can claim, it's a condition of dispossession from given structures of normativity, of dispossession from the coherence, the unity by which identity is affirmed," said Edelman during his lecture. "It names no category or person that could be sheltered within the law, precisely because the law itself is the arbiter of the norms.
The lecture also focused on queer theory's implications for rhetorical theory, societal politics and specifically, how it relates to the dynamics and cinematic techniques of the 2009 Spanish film, directed and by Pedro Almodovar.
"Social order cannot, by virtue of its structure as an order, assimilate queerness in a goal of inclusion," he said.
Professor of English and Program Director of Gay and Lesbian Studies Marilyn Reizbaum expressed her excitement about Edelman's lecture.
"Bowdoin is thrilled to welcome Lee Edelman [whose] way of thinking about queer theory has been transformative," said Reizbaum.