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Teresa de Lauretis

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Teresa de Lauretis

Teresa de Lauretis (Italian: [teˈrɛːza de lauˈrɛːtis]; born 1938 in Bologna) is an Italian author and Distinguished Professor Emerita of the History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her areas of interest include semiotics, psychoanalysis, film theory, literary theory, feminism, women's studies, lesbian- and queer studies. She has also written on science fiction. Fluent in English and Italian, she writes in both languages. Additionally, her work has been translated into sixteen other languages.

De Lauretis received her doctorate in Modern Languages and Literatures from Bocconi University in Milan before coming to the United States. She joined the History of Consciousness with Hayden White, Donna Haraway, Fredric Jameson and Angela Davis. Has held Visiting Professorships at universities worldwide including ones in Canada, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Austria, Argentina, Chile, France, Spain, Hungary, Croatia, Mexico and the Netherlands. She currently lives in San Francisco, CA, but often spends time in Italy and the Netherlands.

Theories

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De Lauretis' account of subjectivity as a product of "being subject/ed to semiosis" (i.e., making meanings and being made by them) helps to theoretically resolve and overcome the tension between the human action (agency) and structure. She makes use of Umberto Eco's reading of C.S. Peirce in order to establish her notion of semiotics of experience. She brings corporeality back to the discourse on the constitution of subjectivity which has been conceived mainly in the linguistic terms. Her semiotics is not just the semiotics of language but also the semiotics of visual images and non-verbal practices. Her (Peircean) "habit" or "habit-change" is often compared to Bourdieu's notion of habitus.

Michel Foucault’s analysis of body excludes the consideration of the specificity of the female body that many feminists have criticized. Supplementing the failure, gender should be one of the effects of technology which renders the basic intelligibility of body and that turns to de Lauretis’ "technology of gender". de Lauretis coined the term "queer theory" although the way in which it is used today differs from what she originally suggested by the term.[1] She coined the term in February 1990 at a conference at the University of California, Santa Cruz. After the conference, the "proceeding" were then "collected in a 1991 special issue of Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies."[2] De Lauretis discussed the main ideas of queer theory in the issue, making an impact on the field of queer studies.[2] She suggested that queer studies should be studied separately from lesbian and gay studies. De Lauretis states that "queer theory challenged norms" that enforce inequalities regarding "social identities" such as gender, sexuality, class, and race.[2] Although she coined the term she abandoned it barely three years later, on the grounds that it had been taken over by those mainstream forces and institutions it was coined to resist.[3]

Honors, awards and grants

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  • Guest of honour, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina (2014)[4]
  • Doctor honoris causa, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina (2014)[4]
  • Distinguished Career Award, Society for Cinema and Media Studies (2010)[4]
  • Winner, Choice Magazine Outstanding Reference/Academic Book Award (2009)[5]
  • IHR Humanities Research Fellowship (2007)[4]
  • Doctor of Philosophy honoris causa, University of Lund, Sweden (2005)[4]
  • UCHRI Resident Faculty Fellowship, University of California, Irvine (2003-2004)[4]
  • Guggenheim Fellowship (1993)[4]
  • NEH Fellowship for University Teachers (1992)[4]
  • Conference Grant, Humanities Division, University of California, Santa Cruz (1990)[4]
  • Conference Grant, Research Council of Canada (1884)[4]
  • Research Fellowship, Center for Twentieth Century Studies, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee (1982–83)[4]
  • Grant in Media Studies, National Endowment for the Arts (1977–78)[4]

Bibliography

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Books (English)
  • Freud's Drive: Psychoanalysis, Literature, and Film (2008)[6][5]
  • Figures of Resistance: Essays in Feminist Theory (2007)[7]
  • The Practice of Love: Lesbian Sexuality and Perverse Desire (1994)[8]
  • Technologies of Gender: Essays on Theory, Film, and Fiction (1987)[9]
  • Feminist Studies/Critical Studies (1986)[10]
  • Alice Doesn't: Feminism, Semiotics, Cinema (1984)[11]
  • The Cinematic Apparatus (1980)[12]
  • The Technological Imagination (1980)[13]
Anthologies or collections she edited or co-edited
  • Feminist Studies/Critical Studies (1986)
  • The Cinematic Apparatus (1980)
  • The Technological Imagination (1980)
Journals
Books (Italian)
  • La sintassi del desiderio: struttura e forme del romanzo sveviano (Ravenna: Longo, 1976)
  • Umberto Eco (Firenze: La Nuova Italia, 1981)
  • Sui generis (Milano: Feltrinelli, 1996)
  • Pratica d'amore : percorsi del desiderio perverso (Milano: Tartaruga, 1997)[14]
  • Soggetti eccentrici (Milano: Feltrinelli, 1999)

References

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  1. ^ Halperin, David (2003). "The normalizing of queer theory". Journal of Homosexuality. 45 (2–4). Binghamton, N.Y.: Haworth Press: 343. doi:10.1300/j082v45n02_17. ISSN 0091-8369. OCLC 948835311. PMID 14651188. S2CID 37469852.
  2. ^ a b c Miller, Jennifer. "Chapter 1: Thirty Years of Queer Theory". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ Australian humanities review - "Queer Theory"
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Teresa De Lauretis". Regents of the University of California. Retrieved 2017-06-05.
  5. ^ a b Awards. WorldCat. OCLC 474185039.
  6. ^ Freud's drive : psychoanalysis, literature and film. Language, discourse, society. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 2008. ISBN 9780230524781. OCLC 474185039.
  7. ^ De Lauretis, Teresa, ed. (2007). Figures of resistance : essays in feminist theory. Patricia White (introduction). Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252031977. OCLC 174099974.
  8. ^ The practice of love : lesbian sexuality and perverse desire. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1994. ISBN 9780253208781. OCLC 422843489. Retrieved 2017-06-06.
  9. ^ Technologies of gender : essays on theory, film and fiction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1987. ISBN 9780253358530. OCLC 801874505.
  10. ^ Feminist studies : critical studies. Theories of contemporary culture. Vol. 8. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1986. ISBN 9780253203861. OCLC 441855325. Retrieved 2017-06-06.
  11. ^ Archives for Research on Women and Gender (1975). Alice Doesn't... Anywhere, Anymore! 1975 Women's Strike. Georgia State University Library. OCLC 927316153.
  12. ^ Papers and discussions from a conference held Feb. 22-24, 1978 by the Center for Twentieth Century Studies, University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee.De Lauretis, Teresa; Heath, Stephen, eds. (1980). The Cinematic apparatus. London: MacMillan. OCLC 988211947.
  13. ^ De Lauretis, Teresa; Huyssen, Andreas; Woodward, Kathleen, eds. (1980). The Technological imagination : theories and fictions. Theories of contemporary culture. Vol. 3. Madison, Wisconsin: Coda Press. ISBN 9780930956110. OCLC 300392644.
  14. ^ Pratica d'amore : percorsi del desiderio perverso [The Practice of Love: Lesbian Sexuality and Perverse Desire] (in Italian). Milano: Tartaruga. 1997. ISBN 9788877382634. OCLC 895924134.
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