The Feminine Turn is an international research group. It initiates a cooperation between Berlin (Humboldt Universität/ Classics; Freie Universität/ Religious Studies), Utrecht (Universiteit Utrecht, Philosophy and Religious Studies), California (University of California, Los Angeles/ Political Science; California State University, Long Beach/ Classics) and Argentina (Universidad Nacional de Rosario/ Humanities and Arts, Program of Literature & Linguistics).

The Feminine Turn aims at reassessing the ethical, political, and epistemological value of female agency in Graeco-Roman fictive and scientific literature, and its reception in the Renaissance, by queering the canonical boundaries of female and male. Within this frame of investigation, The Feminine Turn sets out to challenge a long tradition of literary criticism deeply enrooted in dichotomic power discourses of male vs. female, which famously include the opposition of authority vs. inferiority, rationality vs. irrationality, domination vs. subjugation, activity vs. passivity, among others. By disentangling the normativity of male vs. female, The Feminine Turn opens up a space in which we might begin to explore how the fe/male voice in ancient classical texts informs practices of bodily pleasures, shared vulnerability, mutual understanding, and empathetic dialogue within communities and interpersonal relationships. 

The first event presented by The Feminine Turn is a two-days research seminar on Sophocles’ Antigone which will take place on the 29th and 30th of June 2023. Participants are Giulia Sissa, Diana Librandi, Susanne Gödde, Marta Lietti, Giulia Maria Chesi, Giacomo Scavello, Marcela Ristorto, Silvia Reyes and Clara Racca. For a more detailed presentation of the close reading of Antigone which will take place, followed by large discussion of approximately 45 minutes, please refer to the program linked here. 

A live streaming of the event is scheduled, and the public is warmly invited to engage with the seminar discussion during the hour-long session of Q&A at the end of each day. To register for the streaming, please send an email to: thefeminineturn@gmail.com