UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE International

Photo: Patric Fouad

Thinking is cool! Judith Butler in Cologne

In 2016 the Albertus Magnus Professorship was awarded to the philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler from the University of California (Berkeley). Her immense influence on the current social discourse became tangible already in the run-up to the series of events planned with Professor Butler at the University of Cologne (UoC): the media interest was enormous and rocketing registration numbers suggested the arrival of a rock star.

By Nina Maria Kohl and Kilian Thoben.

Initiated by the representative of the rectorate and head of the UoC’s Thomas Institute, Professor Andreas Speer, and jointly organized by the University of Cologne, the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts and the Kölner Gymnasial- und Stiftungsfonds, an institution for the administration of educational foundations, the Albertus Magnus Professorship has been awarded annually since 2005 to outstanding personalities of international renown. It is dedicated to the memory of the medieval universal scholar Albertus Magnus (1193-1280).

In a series of lectures and seminars, the laureates are invited to address current issues of social and scientific importance in order to stimulate and enhance both public and academic discourses. That way the Albertus Magnus Professorship takes up an old tradition of the medieval university and medieval academic culture: renowned professors taking a break from academic everyday life to lecture publicly on issues of broad societal importance while normal teaching activities were suspended or at least limited. 

By awarding the Albertus Magnus Professorship to Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Program of Critical Theory of the University of California (Berkeley), Professor Speer succeeded in attracting one of the world’s most influential theorists in the field of feminist and gender theory to the University of Cologne. Professor Speer seemed extremely pleased about the media interest prior to the award ceremony and lecture series planned with Butler, despite the fact that he had experienced something similar before:

Judith Butler, often referred to as the "icon of gender studies", provides reference points for people working in different academic fields. Hence not only the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne, but also GeStiK, the Center for Gender Studies in Cologne, was involved in this year’s events.

The director of GeStiK, Professor Susanne Völker, explains why Judith Butler's visit was so important for the academic community in Cologne: "In gender and queer studies there is certainly no one who is referred to more often in inter- and transdisciplinary contexts than she is, whose publications are quoted more frequently and whose intellectual charisma and radical analyses have inspired, irritated and occasionally  provoked researches, students and lectures to the extent that she has, against a policy, that plays differences off against  each other, that positions seemingly familiar things against unfamiliar ones. Without fail she is committed to an egalitarian and democratic 'sharing of the world' (as Luce Irigaray says) that respects differences instead of essentializing them."

The interest among literary scholars to meet Judith Butler in person was also huge. It was therefore not surprising that students, lecturers and researchers from the most diverse disciplines came to her lectures, fascinated as well as provoked by this extraordinary personality. The level of interest was so great that the academic circumstances at the UoC were truly exceptional, which, in turn, is absolutely in line with the tradition of academic discourse culture of the medieval university.

The managing director of GeStiK Dr. Dirk Schulz is not surprised by the stir that this year’s Albertus Magnus Professor caused: "Her work has inspired, motivated as well as deeply and lastingly touched so many people within and outside academia in their ways of thinking, opinions and situations and has therefore enabled interdisciplinary as well as comprehensive dialogues. Again and again Butler introduces marginalized perspectives and opposes supposedly ‘objective truths’ and ‘natural circumstances’. Because we at GeStiK focus on the ‘queer’, Butler's rigorous denaturalization of dichotomous and heteronormative patterns are important starting and reference points for our research."

The question remains: Is Judith Butler a rock star among scholars – with all the attitudes generally attributed to such people? Professor Speer dismisses this idea:

The candidate for the Albertus Magnus Professorship 2017 has not yet been announced, but the tension is rising. The award has become highly respected in academia internationally and attracts outstanding academics to Cologne: "Fortunately, the Albertus Magnus Professorship is obviously of such high repute that we do not have to convince people to come and accept it. It is one of the awards people highly appreciate to be given in their academic career, which I am very pleased about,” Speer concludes.