Discussion: Reconsidering Gender, Religion and Agency

Overview

This 19th century anti-polygamy cartoon highlights how non-monogamy is not only cast as a form of despotism over women but also how it is racialised and understood as backward/ savage.

ROOM CHANGE: Chetwynd Room, King's College

Dr Laura Davies (Department of English and King's College)

Dr Julienne Obadia (Centre for Gender Studies and King's College)

Dr Lea Taragin-Zeller (Woolf Institute and Newnham College)

The controversies about #MeToo, sexualised violence in religious and educational institutions, and Islamic full-face veiling in public show that the relation between religion and gender continues to be at the heart of political life. The panelists will take up some of the most recent controversies and discuss whether the language and the concepts we use to discuss them are sufficient. How should we understand the changing dynamic of freedom, autonomy and agency with regards to gender and religion? How do struggles around sexual identity, sexual orientation and religion relate to questions of race, class, (dis-)ability, etc.? What can be gained and what is at risk when we decenter liberal conceptions of agency and the self?

The event is part of the King's Politics and Religion Series and is co-hosted by King's College and the Woolf Institute.

How to book

Attendance is free, no booking required.