Judith Butler

Judith Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American post-structuralist philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of feminist philosophy, queer theory, political philosophy, and ethics. She is a professor in the Rhetoric and Comparative Literature departments at the University of California, Berkeley, and is also the Hannah Arendt Professor of Philosophy at the European Graduate School. Butler received her PhD in philosophy from Yale University in 1984, for a dissertation subsequently published as Subjects of Desire: Hegelian Reflections in Twentieth-Century France. In the late-1980s she held several teaching/research appointments, and was involved in "post-structuralist" efforts within Western feminist theory to question the "presuppositional terms" of feminism. Considered "one of the most influential voices in contemporary political theory" and as "one of the most influential feminist theorists" today, she is best known for her seminal work Gender Trouble. She was awarded the Theodor W. Adorno Award in 2012 for her work on "political theory, on moral philosophy and gender studies."

Her research ranges from literary theory, modern philosophical fiction, feminist, gender and sexuality studies, to 19th- and 20th-century European literature and philosophy, Kafka and loss, mourning and war. Herself being Jewish, her most recent work focuses on Jewish philosophy, exploring pre- and post-Zionist criticisms of state violence.

Politically, she is a member of the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace and a supporter of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel. She identifies with "a Judaism that is not associated with state violence," and emphasizes that Israel does not represent all Jews.