Dr. Cat Clifford, associate professor of English, will give an Invited Faculty Lecture titled “Neither Subject nor Object of Desire: An Introduction to Asexuality Studies” on Wednesday, October 22, at 1:30 p.m. in French Memorial Chapel.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
In her presentation, Clifford will explain what everyone needs to know about asexuality. By introducing key ideas in the field of asexuality studies, she’ll dispel some common myths about asexuality and show how her work on “asexual reading,” a type of literary criticism, can change the ways we all understand sexual attraction and its attendant rites of passage.
Clifford’s presentation is part of the Invited Faculty Lectures series.
Each spring, Hastings College students select two faculty members to present campus-wide lectures on the professors’ topics of choice during the next academic year. Considered a prestigious honor for the faculty, the tradition dates to 1967, and is sponsored by the Hastings College Lecture Series.
Dr. Brad Dinardo, associate professor of physics, will give the second Invited Faculty Lecture of the academic year on March 25, 2026.
Biography for Dr. Cat Clifford
Dr. Cat Clifford joined Hastings College in 2022 as a specialist in early modern and medieval literatures. Along with classes in these topics, she also enjoys teaching a broad range of topics in English, from LGBTQIA+ literatures to writing to English grammar.
A lifelong student of literature, Clifford began pursuing advanced work in Shakespeare after completing her undergraduate degree in 2005 because she was endlessly compelled by the big, humanistic questions Shakespeare and his contemporaries seemed to be interested in. In her doctoral work, she examined the relationship between early modern English drama, power and space in royal palaces. Her current work centers around these broad topics, as well as asexuality studies, an emerging sub-discipline in queer studies.
When she’s not working, Clifford enjoys running ultramarathons, watching women’s soccer, and playing with her Labrador retriever, Kit.
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