Dr Carolyn Laubender

Biography

Carolyn Laubender, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex, where she is the founding Co-Director of the MA in Gender & Sexuality Studies. Her interdisciplinary research interests include feminist and queer theory, postcolonial theory, psychoanalytic history, and 20th century literature and film. Prior to joining Essex, Carolyn taught in The Program in Literature and The Program in Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at Duke University in the US, where she was awarded fellowships from both Duke and from the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA). She holds a Ph.D. from the Program in Literature at Duke University (with dual Certifications in Feminist Studies and College Teaching) and a BA in Gender Studies and Literature from Lehigh University. She also serves as the Book Reviews Editor for Psychoanalysis & History. Carolyn is currently at work on two book projects. The first, Psychoanalysis and the Politics of the Clinic, takes up her interest in psychoanalysis to explore the under-acknowledged political work performed in and through the psychoanalytic clinic, which has long been held to be a site of neutrality, impartiality, and apoliticality. The second project, Age Old: Queer Kinship and Intergenerational Sexuality, develops her intersectional interest in queer sexuality, race, gender, and age. In it, Carolyn explores the great range of literary and cultural representations of intergenerational relationships and argues that generationally “transgressive” relationality is central to historic and enduring practices of queer eroticism, community, kinship, and culture. Her recent publications can be found in journals such as Psychoanalysis, Culture, & Society (forthcoming; 2021), Arizona Quarterly (2020), Studies in Gender and Sexuality (2019), Free Associations (2019), The Psychologist (2019), Psychoanalysis & History (2017), and Feminist Theory (2017), among others. At Essex, Carolyn teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on gender and sexuality studies; psychoanalytic history; and 20th century literature and film. When it comes to supervision, she welcomes prospective PhD students whose research focuses on any of the following areas of specialization: • Feminist Theory • Queer Theory • Radical Politics & The Clinic •. Psychoanalytic History • Generationality & Intergenerational Relationships • Youth & Young People • Psychosocial approaches to Gender and Sexuality • Post/Decolonial Theory • Psychoanalysis, Literature, and Film All inquiries about PhD supervision should include a CV as well as a 5000-word (or so) project proposal, inclusive of: a description of the intended project & its intervention; a literature review; a methodology (where applicable); and a bibliography.

Qualifications

• PhD Duke University,

Appointments

University of Essex

• Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer), Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex (1/10/2020 - present)

• Programme Director, Gender and Sexuality Studies, University of Essex (1/8/2022 - present)

• Programme Director, Childhood Studies, University of Essex (1/8/2018 - present)

• Assistant Professor (Lecturer), Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex (1/8/2018 - 1/10/2020)

Other academic

• Adjunct Instructor, The Program in Literature, Duke University (1/8/2017 - 31/5/2018)