About

Judith Marion Halberstam

Professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity, and Gender Studies

Contact Information
E-mail: halberst@email.usc.edu
Phone: (213) 821-1169
Office: THH 407

LINKS
Curriculum Vitae
 

Biographical Sketch
Judith Halberstam is Professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity and Gender Studies at USC. Halberstam works in the areas of popular, visual and queer culture with an emphasis on subcultures. Halberstam’s first book, Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters (1995), was a study of popular gothic cultures of the 19th and 20th centuries and it stretched from Frankenstein to contemporary horror film. Her 1998 book, Female Masculinity (1998), made a ground breaking argument about non-male masculinity and tracked the impact of female masculinity upon hegemonic genders. Halberstam’s last book, In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives (2005), described and theorized queer reconfigurations of time and space in relation to subcultural scenes and the emergence of transgender visibility. This book devotes several chapters to the topic of visual representation of gender ambiguity. Halberstam was also the co-author with Del LaGrace Volcano of a photo/essay book, The Drag King Book (1999), and with Ira Livingston of an anthology, Posthuman Bodies (1995). Halberstam regularly speaks on visual culture and publishes journalism in venues like BITCH Magazine and The Nation; she is currently finishing one book titled "Notes on Failure" and beginning another on "Bats."
 

Education
B.A. English Literature (with highest honors), University of California, Berkeley, 1/1985
M.A. English Literature, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 1/1989
Ph.D. , University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 1/1991
 

Academic Appointment, Affiliation, and Employment History

Tenure Track Appointments
Professor of Literature, University of California, San Diego, 07/01/1991-07/01/2003  
 

Visiting and Temporary Appointments
Visting Professor of Gender Studies, Harvard, 2005-2006   
 

Description of Research

Summary Statement of Research Interests
Judith Halberstam is a well known gender theorist, specializing in cultural studies, queer theory and visual culture. Her work on female masculinity refutes the notion that butch lesbians are just imitations of "real men" and instead locates gender variance within a lively and dramatic staging of hybrid and minority genders. Halberstam has also written a book on Gothic monstrosity in literature and film and more recently she published In A Queer Time and Place, a study of queer temporality or queer uses of time and space that are developed in opposition to the institutions of family, heterosexuality, and reproduction. She is currently working on a project about "Alternative Political Imaginaries."
 

Research Keywords
queer theory, visual culture, Gothic literature and the horror film, modern novel, postmodern culture, film and video, feminist theory, gender studies; science/animal studies.
 

Research Specialties
(Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1991) Professor of English and ASE: Critical Theory, Film & Popular Culture, Gender Studies, 19th-Century, Queer Studies.
 

Conferences and Other Presentations

Conference Presentations
"Animating Animals", Meet Animal Meat, Keynote Lecture, , Uppsala, Sweden, Center for Gender Research, University of Uppsala, Invited, 05/22/2009-05/23/2009  
"Feminism and Negation,", Lecture/Seminar, , Lund, Sweden, University of Lund, Invited, 05/18/2009  
"Queer Theory and Negativity", Theory Now, Lecture/Seminar, , Bergen, Norway, University of Bergen, Invited, 05/14/2009-05/17/2009  
"Queer Faces", Fotografica Bogotá 2009 - Biennale, Talk/Oral Presentation, , Bogotá, Colombia, Foto Bogotá Art Museum, Invited, 05/03/2009-05/06/2009  
"Cut Ups: Feminism, Performance, Collage", Invited Annual Lecture in the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies , Keynote Lecture, , Leeds, England, UK, University of Leeds, Invited, 02/16/2009  
"Collage and Queer/Feminist Negativity", Lecture/Seminar, , Coventry, England, UK, University of Warwick, Invited, 02/15/2009  
"The Queer Art of Failure", 7th International Contemporary Art Experts Forum of ARCO'09 , Lecture/Seminar, , Madrid, Spain, ARCO Madrid, Invited, 02/12/2009-02/14/2009  
"Queering Masculinity in a Global Frame", Il Coloquio Internacional De Estudios Sobre Varones Y Masculinidades , Keynote Lecture, , Medillin, Colombia, Univeridad De Los Andes, Invited, 12/02/2008-12/05/2008  
"Female Masculinity ", Lecture/Seminar, , Universidad De Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia, Invited, 12/02/2008-12/03/2008  
"Queer Temporality, Masochism and Negation", Sexualities In and Out of Time Conference , Keynote Lecture, , Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, University of Edinburgh, Invited, 11/27/2008-11/29/2008  
""Global Female Masculinity"", Masculinities, Keynote Lecture, , Universidad Autonomia, Mexico City, Mexico, Invited, 10/24/2007-10/26/2007  
""Losing Hope, Finding Nemo and Searching for Alternatives"", Cultural Studies Now, Plenary, , London, England, University of East London, Invited, 07/21/2007-07/24/2007  
""Zwischenzug: The Aesthetic of the Unexpected,"", Closing Night Lecture for Art Show, , Ludwig Museum, Köln, Germany, Invited, 11/12/2006  
""Transbiology," ", European Association of Science Studies and Technology, PLENARY ADDRESS, , Lausanne, Switzerland, Invited, 08/24/2006  
 

Publications

Book
Halberstam, J. M. (2005). In A Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. In A Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives/New York University Press.
 

Conference Proceeding
Halberstam, J. M. "Transgender in a Global Frame". Frankfurt, Germany.
Halberstam, J. M. "Transgender in a Global Frame". Chicago, IL.
 

Other
Halberstam, J. M. Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and The Technology of Monsters. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1995.
Halberstam, J. M. Posthuman Bodies. Co-Edited with Ira Livingston, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1995.
Halberstam, J. M. Female Masculinity, Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1998.
 

Proceedings
Halberstam, J. M., Eng, D., Munoz, J. E. (2005). Special Issue of Social Text:. pp. 1-250. Special Issue of Social Text:/Duke University Press.
 

Honors and Awards
USC or School/Dept Award for Teaching, GE Award for Undergraduate Teaching, 2008-2009   
Honorary Visiting Professor at Roehampton University, London, 2006-2007   
Distinguished Visiting Professor, Carleton College, MN, 4/25/2007-4/29/2007  
Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Alberta, CA, 1/22/2007-1/29/2007  
Compton-Noll Award for Best LGBT essay, 2001  
UCSD Humanities Center Fellowship, 2001  
Nominee for two Lambda Book Awards for "Female Masculinity", 1998  
 

Service to the Profession

Editorships and Editorial Boards
Perverse Modernities, Duke University Press Book Series, 09/2003-  
Board of Editors, Member, GLQ, 09/01/2005-09/01/2009  
Editorial Board Member, Thirdspace:A Journal of Feminist Theory and Culture, 2008-2009   
 

Professional Memberships
American Studies Association, 01/15/2005-01/15/2009  
MLA, 2007-2008   
American Association of Geographers, 01/01/2005-01/01/2006  
 
 
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