Associate professor to hold open lecture on gender performance

Dr. Douglas Julien, associate professor of English at Texas A&M University Texarkana, will conduct an open lecture Thursday on gender performance. The event, which is part of the university’s Program for Learning and Community Engagement program, will be held from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in University Center Room 231. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Julien will be discussing Judith Butler, president-elect of the Modern Language Association, who is currently under siege for her advocacy of Avitall Ronell in a sexual discrimination case. She also wrote a key work in contemporary feminist theory, “Gender Trouble,” where she first posted her argument for “performativity theory.”

Julien has been a faculty member since 2010 and is currently chair of the Department of Literature, Composition, Media and Communication. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society from the University of Minnesota.

His most recent publications include a forthcoming piece in an edited volume “Can the White Boy Speak? Coming to Terms with the Color Blind Li(n)e” and “The Importance of the Condominium Agreement in ‘Season of Migration to the North’” (2016).

PLACE is a faculty-led program designed to create a community of learners comprised of A&M Texarkana students, faculty, staff and the community at large. PLACE chooses an annual theme around which to organize a lecture series and other activities that provide focal points for learning and discussion. This year’s theme is “Gender Issues.”