Taking inspiration from the Sapphic collages of Lynne Huffer on display at the Townsend Center through May 2027, this symposium gathers together scholars working at the intersection of philosophy, literature, and creative practice. Speakers reflect on the ways in which Sappho and the Sapphic tradition have contributed in subterranean ways to counterintuitive modes of thinking — and thus to the radical work of critical theory, broadly defined.
Because so little of her work survives intact, Sappho has long been particularly available for reinterpretation. Engaging with this rich field of possibility, panelists ask: can we see Sappho as a philosopher or critical theorist who preemptively contests the all-male tradition that brackets her in the domain of ancient poetry? Can we approach her oeuvre as a practice of feminist and transfeminist production that problematizes the very distinction between poetry and philosophy? How does an approach that emphasizes the discontinuous and fragmentary state of the archive change our perceptions of Sappho — such as her traditional association with Victorian and post-Victorian models of white lesbianism? How can a fresh return to Sappho help us navigate a moment in which gender is increasingly entangled with fear, anxiety, and political contestation?
Following the symposium, audience members are invited to the Townsend Center for a reception to celebrate the opening of the exhibition, Thinking with Sappho: Lynne Huffer and the Art of Collage.
Participants:
Judith Butler, UC Berkeley
Penelope Deutscher, Northwestern University
Lynne Huffer, Emory University
Ranjana Khanna, Duke University
Salar Mamemi, UC Berkeley
Victoria Rimell, University of Warwick
Mario Telò, UC Berkeley
