Vicki Kirby (born 1950) is an Australian anthropologist and Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Anthropology at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

in Sydney.

Life

Kirby received her BA (Hon) from

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...

and her PhD from the University of California at Santa Cruz. In addition to numerous visiting professorships and research visits she has taught and researched in many countries, including an appointment as Erasmus Mundus professor at the University of Utrecht. She is a founding member of the Digital Semiotics Encyclopedia Advisory Board. She is also a member of the International Editorial Advisory Board of the Borderlands Journal.

Work

Kirby's research explores the opposites: nature / culture, body / mind, body / technology, humanities / natural sciences and their deconstruction. Kirby pursues these oppositions in terms of social and political conflicts and their effects. She sees the separation of mind and body as the basis for a number of political problems, such as climate change and gender-specific oppression. Kirby's research is significantly influenced by the work of

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...

. Her work is archived by

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

as it was considered critical to feminist theory.

Judith Butler: Live Theory

Kirby's 2006 publication, Judith Butler: Live Theory, introduces the work of feminist theorist

Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butler ...

. In it, Kirby examines Butler's contributions to gender theory and offers new perspectives on Butler's work, particularly on sexuality, identity, politics, language and power. She also explores Butler's work in relation to other theorists, including

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even th ...

and

Monique Wittig Monique Wittig (; July 13, 1935 – January 3, 2003) was a French author, philosopher and feminist theorist who wrote about abolition of the sex-class system and coined the phrase "heterosexual contract". Her seminal work is titled ''The Straigh ...

Publications

Monographs

* Quantum Anthropologies: Life at Large. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press 2011, ISBN 978-0-8223-9444-0 . * *Vicki Kirby (2011) Judith Butler
Pensamiento en Accion
1st, Edicions Bellaterra, Barcelona. *

Essays (selection)

* * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Vicki Living people Academic staff of the University of New South Wales Australian anthropologists 1950 births University of Sydney alumni