UF Lecture Tomorrow: Cary Wolfe (Rice University) – Biopolitics of the Posthumanities

13 September 2012, 6:00 pm
University of Florida, Smathers (Library East) 1A
Cary Wolfe (Rice University)
Biopolitics of the Posthumanities 
In this lecture, Prof. Wolfe will discuss new ways of thinking about the shared fate of human beings and non-human animals, using recent biopolitical thought as a framework, thus moving beyond traditional humanism. He will suggest some of the implications of what amounts to a rejection of the essential assumption in the classical humanities that necessary divisions exist between humans and animals, and indeed between society and nature. In light of his work, he will point to what he believes are some of the new directions humanities research might take in the future.
Cary Wolfe is the Bruce and Elizabeth Dunlevie Professor of English and Department Chair of the Department of English at Rice University. He received his Ph.D. from Duke University. His books include The Limits of American Literary Ideology in Pound and Emerson (Cambridge, 1993),Critical Environments: Postmodern Theory and the Pragmatics of the “Outside” (Minnesota, 2009), Animal Rites: American Culture, the Discourse of Species, and Posthumanist Theory (Chicago, 2003), and What is Posthumanism? (Minnesota, 2009). He has also edited the collection Zoontologies: The Question of the Animal (Minnesota, 2003). He is the founding editor of the series Posthumanities. His areas of research include animal studies and posthumanism, systems theory and pragmatism, biopolitics and biophilosophy, and American literature and culture.

Fall 2012: Rehumanizing the University Series
This series of twelve lectures is co-sponsored by the UF Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere (Rothman Endowment), the Harn Eminent Scholar Chair in Art History Program, the UF Honors Program, the Alexander Grass Chair in Jewish History at UF, the UF International Center, the UF Office of Research, UF  College of Liberal Arts and Sciences,  the UF Center for Jewish Studies, the UF Libraries, the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, the UF France-Florida Research Institute, the  Hyatt and Cici Brown Endowment for Florida Archaeology, the UF Department of History, the UF Department of Classics, the UF Department of English, the Marston-Milbauer Eminent Scholar Chair, the Albert Brick Chair in English at UF, the UF African American Studies Program, the UF Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Research, UF College of Design, Construction and Planning, and the Alachua County Library District.
For an overview of the Rehumanizing the University Speakers series, click here.