DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND ITALIAN

On Tuesday, January 13, the Department of French and Italian welcomed Associate Professor of French, Éric Tsimi, to Northwestern University.

On Thursday, October 15 and Friday, October 16, the Department of French and Italian hosted David Halperin for a graduate workshop and a public lecture entitled Queer Paranoia, Normal Power.

Organized by Micol Bez, Thaïs Autun, Lily McDonnell, and Iain Millar, the graduate workshop brought together students from a range of departments. The session focused on three of Halperin’s seminal texts: Saint Foucault, In Defense of Historicism Once More, and Foucault’s Queer Critique. The discussion was rich and wide-ranging, with students engaging Halperin in a dynamic conversation that underscored the enduring relevance of his work to contemporary queer theory and critical thought. 

On Friday, Halperin delivered a public lecture in Kresge 1515 on Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s influential essay Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading. His talk offered a compelling response to Sedgwick’s text, defending the continued necessity of critique in today’s cultural and socio-political climate. Framing critique not as a relic of suspicion but as a vital mode of engagement, Halperin’s lecture resonated deeply with the audience.