Invitation to the Seminar of Luce Irigaray

Invitation to the Seminar of 

LUCE IRIGARAY

13 – 18 June 2011

University of Bristol

Since 2003, Luce Irigaray has held an annual seminar for researchers doing their PhD on her work. The seminar offer the opportunity to receive personal teaching from Luce Irigaray and to exchange ideas, methods and experiences with other participants. The seminar was hosted by the University of Nottingham during the first three years (see Luce Irigaray: Teaching edited by Luce Irigaray with Mary Green, and published by Continuum, London & New York, 2008), by the University of Liverpool the fourth year, by Queen Mary, University of London, the fifth year,  by the Goodenough College of London the sixth year and by the University of Nottingham the seventh year. It will take place at the University of Bristol in 2011.

The framework of the seminar is this: a group of fifteen researchers doing their PhD on the work of Luce Irigaray stay one week on the university campus. The schedule includes: a presentation by each researcher on the aspect of their PhD which most focuses on the work of Irigaray, the discussion of this presentation by the group, comments from Luce Irigaray herself and her answers to questions raised by each participant. Also included are sessions devoted to the explanation of key-words or key-thoughts chosen by the participants. Personal meetings with Luce Irigaray are organised on the last day. The participants pay for their travel, but receive hospitality from the university. The seminar is conducted in English.

The participants in the seminar come from different regions of the world. They belong to different cultures, traditions and fields of research including Philosophy, Gender Studies, Religious Studies, Literature, Arts, Critical and Cultural Studies, etc. The themes of their research include, for example: the treatment of personal or cultural traumatic experience; the resources that various arts can offer for dwelling in oneself and with the other(s); the maternal order and feminine genealogy; the interpretation and embodiment of the divine today; the contribution of sexuate difference to personal and social development; new perspectives in philosophy etc. In each of these fields, diverse domains, approaches and methods are represented. To date, participants have come from Australia, Vietnam, Korea, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, Latvia, Spain, Italy, Ireland and from different regions and universities of the U.S.A. and of the U.K. Beyond the multicultural teaching which results from such a gathering, the participants learn to live together and to share in difference during the time devoted to the work, and also during meals, walks, personal meetings etc. The atmosphere of the seminar is intense but friendly and joyful, and its outcome highly successful for both the research and the life of each participant.

If you are interested and would like to participate in the seminar please send, as soon as possible, a CV, a PhD abstract (1 page) and a presentation of the issues and arguments of your PhD that most focus on the work of Luce Irigaray (5-6 pages) to Luce Irigaray (by mail: 15, rue Lakanal, 75015 Paris, France). After receiving this material, Luce Irigaray will tell you if you can participate in the seminar of 2011. After this, you will be contacted by the University in the Spring with information about accommodation.

CFP: Invitation to Luce Irigaray Post-Graduate Seminar

An Invitation to the Seminar of

Luce Irigaray

Since 2003, Luce Irigaray has held an annual seminar for researchers doing their PhD on her work. The seminar offers the opportunity to receive personal teaching from Luce Irigaray and to exchange ideas, methods and experiences with other participants. The seminar was first hosted by the University of Nottingham for three years (see Luce Irigaray: Teaching edited by Luce Irigaray with Mary Green, and published by Continuum, London & New York, 2008). It was then hosted by the University of Liverpool in its fourth year, by Queen Mary, University of London, in its fifth year and by the Goodenough College of London in its sixth year. In 2010, the seminar returned to the University of Nottingham. The location and dates for the 2011 seminar will be announced at a later time.

The framework of the seminar is this: a group of fifteen researchers doing their PhD on the work of Luce Irigaray are invited to stay one week on the university campus. The schedule includes: a presentation by each researcher of the aspect of their PhD which most focuses on the work of Irigaray, the discussion of this presentation by the group, comments from Luce Irigaray herself and her answers to questions raised by each participant. Also included are sessions devoted to the explanation of key-words or key-thoughts chosen by the participants. Personal meetings with Luce Irigaray are organised on the last day. The participants pay for their travel, but receive hospitality from the university. The seminar is conducted in English.

The participants in the seminar come from different regions of the world; they belong to different cultures, traditions and fields of research – Philosophy, Gender Studies, Religious Studies, Literature, Arts, Critical and Cultural Studies, etc. The themes of their research include, for example: the treatment of personal or cultural traumatic experience; the resources that various arts can offer for dwelling in oneself and with the other(s); the maternal order and feminine genealogy; the interpretation and embodiment of the divine today; the contribution of sexuate difference to personal and social development; new perspectives in philosophy etc. In each of these fields, diverse domains, approaches and methods are represented. To date, participants have come from Australia, Vietnam, Korea, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, Latvia, Spain, Italy, Ireland and from different regions and universities of the U.S.A. and of the U.K. Beyond the multicultural teaching which results from such a gathering, the participants learn to live together and to share in difference during the time devoted to the work, and also during meals, walks, personal meetings etc. The atmosphere of the seminar is intense but friendly and joyful, and its outcome highly successful for both the research and the life of each participant.

If you are interested and would like to participate in the seminar please send, as soon as possible: a CV, a PhD abstract (1 page) and a presentation of the issues and arguments of your PhD that most focus on the work of Luce Irigaray (5-6 pages) to Luce Irigaray (by mail: 15, rue Lakanal, 75015 Paris, France). Please be sure to include a telephone number, postal address and email address where you may be contacted. After receiving this material, Luce Irigaray will tell you if you can participate in the seminar of 2011. You will then receive further particulars from the university hosting the seminar.

Title and Abstract for Luce Irigaray talk, London 5 December

Luce Irigaray is speaking in London on 5 December, 2010.  Her talk is part of the Sexuate Subjectivities conference taking place at UCL.  Conference programme is here: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sexuate-subjects/conferenceprogramme


This is the title, abstract and biography for her talk: 


Title: Remembering humanity


Neither sciences nor a return to traditional religious values, which render difficult the coexistence between different cultures, can save humanity today. Instead this could perhaps happen thanks to a thought inspired by the heart, the organ that can join our corporeality to our spirituality and allow the "old man" of our Western tradition to attain a new humanity. Thinking as an act that concerns the whole being, and especially the heart, can favour the gathering of each within oneself and the coexistence with the other, with others, through the acknowledgement of all the real, the remembrance of it and the love for it. The role of university is crucial for accomplishing this cultural evolution. Will it be capable of being faced with such a task?


Biography: Luce Irigaray is Director of Research in Philosophy at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris. She is also trained in linguistics, philology, psychology and psychoanalysis. Her work focuses on the elaboration of a culture of sexuate subjects and of their relations. Which represents a basic starting point to meet and share with the other as other, from the most intimate level to the most global and universal level. Luce Irigaray is the author of over thirty books translated in many languages.