The Shape of Sex: Nonbinary Gender Before Modernity

**PLEASE NOTE: The location of this lecture has changed and will now be 260 Pomerene Hall instead of the 18th Ave. Library.**

Historian and author Leah DeVun (Rutgers) will focus on ideas and individuals who allegedly combined or crossed sex or gender categories in Europe from 200–1400 C.E. Ranging widely across premodern European thought and culture, DeVun will look at how and why efforts to define “the human” so often hinged on ideas about nonbinary sex and gender. In a moment when questions about sex, gender, and identity have become incredibly urgent, this talk will cast new light on a complex and often contradictory past. DeVun will discuss how premodern European thinkers created a system of sex and embodiment that both anticipates and challenges modern beliefs about what it means to be male, female—and human.

Leah DeVun is Professor of History and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Rutgers University. DeVun is the author of The Shape of Sex: Nonbinary Gender from Genesis to the Renaissance (Columbia, 2021) and Prophecy, Alchemy, and the End of Time (Columbia, 2009; winner of the 2013 John Nicholas Brown Prize), and co-editor (with Zeb Tortorici) of Trans*historicities, a special issue of TSQ devoted to transgender history before the advent of modern categories of gender. DeVun is the author of articles in GLQ, WSQ, Osiris, postmedieval, and Radical History Review, among other publications. DeVun is also a curator and artist whose work is deeply concerned with feminist and queer history. DeVun’s work or interviews have been featured in the New York Times, Artforum, Huffington Post, People Magazine, LA Review of Books, JSTOR Daily, Redbook, Feature Shoot, Slate, Capricious, Art Papers, LA Weekly, Gallerist, and other publications. The recipient of fellowships and grants from the National Science Foundation, the Huntington Library, the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the American Philosophical Society, and the Stanford Humanities Center, DeVun has lectured widely at venues in the U.S. and Europe.

Sponsored by the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. 

This event is free and open to the public. 

The Humanities Institute and its related centers host a wide range of events, from intense discussions of works in progress to cutting-edge presentations from world-known scholars, artists, and activists, and everything in between. In our current moment of riding the unpredictable currents of the pandemic, we reaffirm the value of in-person engagement. We strive to amplify the energy in the room. But we also recognize the need to be careful and the fact that not all our guests will be able to visit our space. We, therefore, will continue to offer Zoom access to all our events upon request. If you wish to have such access, please send your request to pzef_tnn@bfh.rqh.