Join the Philomathean Society and Dr. Felicity Paxton, director of the Penn Women’s Center, for an afternoon discussion on topics of intellectual and personal interest. Come to relax, learn, reflect or simply to enjoy a cup of Earl Grey.

Dr. Paxton holds a PhD in American Studies from Penn, with master’s and undergraduate degrees from the University of East Anglia. Her research and teaching interests include the influences of ritual and gender in contemporary American life. Dr. Paxton has received numerous awards and honors for her research, including Fulbright and Thouron fellowships. Dr. Paxton also received a Distinguished Service Teaching Award at Penn in 2006. Previously, she taught at Emory University and at the University of East Anglia.

6 PM, 3 March, 2010 | Hall of Flags

The Annual Orator for 2010 was Dr. Judith Butler, who delivered her oration on “From Performativity to Precarity” in 
the Hall of Flags, Houston Hall, on Wednesday, March 3, 2010.

For more details on the talk, see the relevant Daily Pennsylvanian article.

Radical philosopher Judith Butler has contributed immensely to fields ranging from political science to comparative literature, but her influence has undoubtedly been greatest in the field of feminist theory. Her book “Gender Trouble” has become a foundational work of gender studies and her subsequent books have enjoyed similar fame. Professor Butler is currently the Maxine Elliott professor in the Departments of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley and the Hannah Arendt Chair at the European Graduate School EGS.

Philo thanks its cosponsors for the 2010 Annual Oration: SPEC Connaissance, SPEC Fully Planned, The College of Arts and Sciences, DuBois College House, Penn Program in Democracy, Constitutionalism and Citizenship, Penn Humanities Forum, The LGBT Center, The Women’s Center, Queer Student Alliance, The Departments of Philosophy, History, Women’s Studies, Comparative Literature and Political Science.