19th-century transgenderism is the topic of Oct. 28 lecture at Syracuse University

19th-century transgenderism is the topic of Oct. 28 lecture at Syracuse UniversityOctober 22, 2002Judy Holmesjlholmes@syr.edu

“Lucy Lobdell’s Queer Circumstances” is the topic of a lecture presented by the Department of Speech Communication in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts at noon to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 28 in the Hall of Languages, Room 500. The lecture is free and open to the public.

John M. Sloop, associate professor from Vanderbilt University, will explore 19th-century transgenderism through a case study of Lobdell, who was married to Marie Louise Perry. The basis of his research on Lobdell is her self-published autobiography and news and medical reports from the period. He will discuss the semiotics of gender, the relationship between gender, sexuality and psychiatry, and finally the politics of the recovery and re-articulation of Lobdell.

Sloop is the author of numerous journal essays and books, including “The Cultural Prison: Discourse, Prisoners and Punishment” (University of Alabama Press, 1996) and his most recent book, “Shifting Borders: Rhetoric, Immigration and California’s Proposition 187 (Temple University Press, 2002), co-authored with Kent A. Ono. He recently completed a book-length manuscript investigating the contemporary cases of gender trouble called “Disciplining Ambiguity: The Rhetoric of Gender Trouble.”

Sloop is the recipient of the Karl Wallace Public Address Award and the Aubrey Fisher Award for his essay “Disciplining the Transgendered: Brandon Teena, Public Representation and Normativity,” which appeared in the Western Journal of Communication.