Dr Lynn Turner

Staff details

Position Reader in Visual Cultures/co-Head of Department
Department Visual Cultures
Email l.j.turner (@gold.ac.uk)
Phone +44 (0)20 7717 2207
Dr Lynn Turner

Lynn Turner’s research explores how animal and sexual differences matter in visual and aural culture through drawing on continental philosophy, literature and psychoanalysis.

She is the co-Head of Department of Visual Cultures 2022-2025.

Academic qualifications

  • PhD Cultural Studies (University of Leeds) 2002
  • MA Cultural Studies (University of Leeds 1995
  • BA (Hons.) Fine Art (Newcastle Polytechnic - now the University of Northumbria) 1990

Teaching and Supervision

As co-HoD, Lynn's teaching is restricted to teaching on the core course for the MA in Contemporary Art Theory. She has taught modules on sexual poetics and the animal question in visual culture as well as contributing to core delivery on the history of art and visual culture.

Being part of the department’s research clusters on ‘Environmental Humanities and Ecologies,’ ‘Sexes, Genders, Genres,’ and ‘Philosophy, Critical and Visual Theory,’ Dr Lynn Turner currently supervises doctoral theses on: lubrication, surrogacy, breath, hysteria and yoga. She welcomes proposals for research on deconstruction; animal studies; plant studies; feminist philosophy; contemporary visual culture; aural culture particularly the voice/speech relation, and science fiction.

She has examined PhD theses at Goldsmiths, Westminster, the Courtauld, UCL, Cardiff, Kingston and Linköping (Sweden).

Research interests

She is the author of Poetics of Deconstruction: on the threshold of differences (Bloomsbury, 2020), co-editor, with Undine Sellbach and Ron Broglio, of The Edinburgh Companion to Animal Studies (Edinburgh University Press, 2018), editor of The Animal Question in Deconstruction (EUP, 2013), co-author, with Astrid Schmetterling, of Visual Cultures As... Recollection (Sternberg, 2013) and co-editor, with Lindsay Kelley, of a special issue of parallax called 'bon appetit,' (2013).

Her new edited collection Erotics of Deconstruction: autoaffection after Derrida will be published later this year (2024). Here she writes on the future of blood in the context of rape as a military weapon in the work of Jenny Holzer. She is developing a further monograph with the working title of Consanguineous: essays on art, literature and the living and would love to have the research time for another book between botany, art history, theology and philosophy on fig leaves.

She is one of the assistant editors of Derrida Today and sits on the board of several book series as well as Goldsmiths Press.

Publications and research outputs

Book

Turner, Lynn. 2020. Poetics of Deconstruction: On the Threshold of Differences. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350128590

Schmetterling, Astrid and Turner, Lynn. 2013. Visual Cultures As Recollection. Berlin: Sternberg Press. ISBN 978-3-943365-40-5

Edited Book

Turner, Lynn, ed. 2024. Erotics of Deconstruction: Auto-Affection After Derrida. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Turner, Lynn; Sellbach, Undine and Broglio, Ron, eds. 2018. The Edinburgh Companion to Animal Studies. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9781474418416

Turner, Lynn, ed. 2013. The Animal Question in Deconstruction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748683123

Edited Journal

Turner, Lynn and Kelley, Lindsay, eds. 2013. Bon Appetit, Parallax, 19(1). 1353-4645

Turner, Lynn; Swiboda, Marcel and Simonds, Cylena, eds. 2002. Random Figures, Parallax, 8(1). 1353-4645

Turner, Lynn; Swiboda, Marcel and Simonds, Cylena, eds. 2001. ‘Immanent Trajectories’, Parallax, 7(4). 1353-4645

Turner, Lynn; Swiboda, Marcel and Simonds, Cylena, eds. 2001. ‘Hot Property’, Parallax, 7(2). 1353-4645

Book Section

Turner, Lynn. 2024. Sanguine Resistance: dreaming of a future for blood. In: Lynn Turner, ed. Erotics of Deconstruction: Auto-Affection After Derrida. Edinburgh University Press.

Turner, Lynn. 2024. Lapping it up: an introduction for these erotics of deconstruction. In: Lynn Turner, ed. Erotics of Deconstruction: Auto-Affection After Derrida. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Turner, Lynn. 2023. Red Threads. In: , ed. Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!: towards a feminist criminology. Berlin: Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien.

Turner, Lynn. 2020. How like a (Fig) leaf. In: , ed. Beyond Plant Blindness: Seeing the importance of plants for a sustainable world. Berlin: Green Box Publishing. ISBN 978-3-96216-001-2

Turner, Lynn. 2020. Carefree: Scenographies of Care. In: Rebecca Jagoe and Sharon Kivland, eds. On Care. London: Ma Bibliothèque, pp. 237-241. ISBN 9781910055717

Turner, Lynn. 2018. Voice. In: Lynn Turner; Undine Sellbach and Ron Broglio, eds. The Edinburgh Companion to Animal Studies. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9781474418416

Turner, Lynn; Broglio, Ronald and Sellbach, Undine. 2018. Introducing The Edinburgh Companion to Animal Studies. In: , ed. The Edinburgh Companion to Animal Studies. (592) Edinburgh, Scotland.: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 1-12. ISBN 1474418414

Turner, Lynn. 2016. Telefoam: species on the shores of Cixous and Derrida. In: Stefan Herbrechter; Ivan Callus and Manuela Rossini, eds. European Posthumanism. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 56-69. ISBN 9781138675780

Turner, Lynn. 2015. Fort Spa: In at the Deep End with Derrida and Ferenczi. In: Simon Morgan Wortham and Chiara Alfano, eds. Desire in Ashes: Deconstruction, Psychoanalysis, Philosophy. London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 103-119. ISBN 9781472533517

Turner, Lynn. 2015. ‘Animal Melancholia: on the scent of Dean Spanley’. In: Michael Lawrence and Laura McMahon, eds. Animal Life and the Moving Image. London: British Film Institute/Bloomsbury, pp. 134-151. ISBN 9781844578993

Turner, Lynn. 2015. Critical Companions: Derrida, Haraway & Other Animals. In: Julian Wolfreys, ed. Introducing Criticism in the 21st Century, 2nd Edition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748695294

Turner, Lynn. 2013. Insect Asides. In: , ed. The Animal Question in Deconstuction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 54-69. ISBN 0748683135

Turner, Lynn. 2010. Fort-dancing. In: , ed. BA Fine Art & History of Art degree show catalogue 2010. London: Goldsmiths, pp. 5-7. ISBN 978-1-906897-04-8

Turner, Lynn. 2009. The course of a general displacement, or, The course of the choreographer. In: Martin McQuillan and Ika Willis, eds. The Origins of Deconstruction. Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp. 50-66. ISBN 9780230581906

Turner, Lynn. 2009. Seeks-Zoos: some recent correspondence between animals. In: Johnny Golding, ed. The Issues in Contemporary Culture & Aesthetics. 2-3 University of Greenwich, pp. 10-21.

Turner, Lynn. 2005. Des Jeunes Nées : for a confusion of the tongue, the lip, and the rim. In: Johnny Golding, ed. The Issues: In Contemporary Culture and Aesthetics. (1) Nerve Ltd, pp. 171-178. ISBN 0955003709

Article

Turner, Lynn. 2024. Ray of Light. Textual Practice, ISSN 0950-236X

Turner, Lynn. 2023. Secrets and Lies: Embassytown, Ethics and Eating in the Darkness. Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, 52(2), pp. 47-63. ISSN 0306-4964

Turner, Lynn. 2021. How like a (Fig) Leaf: supplanting shame, growing differences. Tahiti: The Society for Art History in Finland, 10(4), pp. 18-27.

Turner, Lynn. 2020. Telegrams. Mosaic: an interdisciplinary critical journal, 53.2, pp. 83-95.

Turner, Lynn. 2016. Interviewee: Lynn Turner. Interviewer: Ron Broglio. Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture(38), pp. 30-36. ISSN 1756-9575

Turner, Lynn. 2014. Telefoam: species on the shores of Derrida and Cixous. European Journal of English Studies, 18(2), pp. 158-171. ISSN 1382-5577

Turner, Lynn. 2013. Animal & Sexual Differences: Kelly Oliver’s Continental Bestiary. Body & Society, 19(4), pp. 1-14.

Turner, Lynn. 2013. Tympan Alley: Posthumanist Performatives in Dancer in the Dark. Derrida Today, 6(2), pp. 222-239. ISSN 1754-8500

Turner, Lynn. 2013. Hors d’oeuvre: some footnotes to the Spurs of Dorothy Cross. Parallax, 19(1), pp. 3-11. ISSN 1353-4645

Turner, Lynn and Kelley, Lindsay. 2013. amuse gueule 'Bon Appetit'. Parallax, 19(1), pp. 1-2. ISSN 1353-4645

Turner, Lynn. 2012. Unhoming Pigeons: The Postal Principle in Lynn Hershman Leeson and Hussein Chalayan. Derrida Today, 5(1), pp. 92-110. ISSN 1754-8500

Turner, Lynn. 2011. Animal transference: a "mole-like progression" in C. J. Cherryh. Mosaic: a journal for the interdisciplinary study of literature, 44(3), pp. 163-175.

Turner, Lynn. 2010. When Species Kiss: some recent correspondence between animots. Humanimalia – a journal of human/animal interface studies, 2(1), pp. 60-85. ISSN 2151-8645

Turner, Lynn. 2008. ‘stop looking for some single defining difference’: the ongoing Arkhe of Donna Haraway’. Parallax, 14(3), pp. 142-145. ISSN 1353-4645

Turner, Lynn. 2007. Wind Up: the Machine-Event of Tape. Camera Obscura Feminism Culture and Media Studies, 22(164), pp. 112-135. ISSN 02705346

Turner, Lynn. 2007. Differential Vibrations: On Things that Go Buzz in the Night: For K.K, the girl next door. The Journal of Visual Culture, 6(3), pp. 437-439.

Turner, Lynn. 2003. Braiding Polyphony: Je tu il elle (& lui). Performance Research, 8(1), pp. 93-99. ISSN 13528165

Turner, Lynn. 2003. ‘Sexual Difference’. The Year’s Work in Cultural & Critical Theory, 11, pp. 317-332.

Turner, Lynn. 2002. Translation Reading Sex. Parallax, 8(4), pp. 57-70. ISSN 13534645

Turner, Lynn. 2002. ‘Lift off: il n’y a pas de deux hors texte’. The Journal of Visual Culture, 1(3), pp. 372-374. ISSN 14704129

Turner, Lynn. 2002. ‘Translating John Malkovich’. Performance Research, 7(2), pp. 132-137. ISSN 1352-8165

Turner, Lynn. 1997. ‘Documentary Friction: Visual & Vocal Strategies in Surname Viet: Given Name Nam’. Parallax, 1(3), pp. 81-93. ISSN 1353-4645

Conference or Workshop Item

Turner, Lynn. 2024. 'On Trial'. In: Midsummer Kafka Symposium: The Trial. University of Sussex, United Kingdom June 2024.

Turner, Lynn. 2023. 'The becoming literary of the clitoral: sexual differance after Artemisia Gentileschi'. In: Rethinking Sexual Differance. Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France 22-24 November 2023.

Turner, Lynn. 2023. 'Ray of Light'. In: Nicholas Royle: A Symposium. University of Sussex, United Kingdom 23 June 2023.

Turner, Lynn. 2022. 'Sanguine Resistance: dreaming of a future for blood'. In: 7th Derrida Today Conference. Arizona State University (ASU) Barbara Barrett and Sandra Day O’Connor Washington Center, Washington, D.C., United States 12-15 June 2022.

Turner, Lynn. 2020. 'Lit: sexual poetics of sanguine resistance'. In: 7th Derrida Today Conference. Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-en-Provence, France 10-13 June 2020.

Turner, Lynn. 2019. 'In lieu of conclusion: cardio-pedagogy in Derrida and White God'. In: Tahiti 8: National Conference of Art History in Finland From Material to Immaterial: Art Historical Practices in the Contemporary World. University of Turku, Finland 27-29 November 2019.

Turner, Lynn. 2019. '‘How like a (Fig) leaf: supplanting shame’'. In: SLSA 2019: 33rd Annual Conference of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts. UC Irvine, United States 7-9 November 2019.

Turner, Lynn. 2019. 'Raising Animals: two powers of horror between the cellar and the kennel'. In: Gender Studies meets Human-Animal Studies lecture series. Humboldt, Germany 16 April - 9 July 2019.

Turner, Lynn. 2019. 'Raising animals: the becoming-time of space between cellar and kennel'. In: SpaceTime, Society of Literature, Science and the Arts (EU). Athens, Greece 25-28 June 2019.

Roberdeau, Wood and Turner, Lynn. 2019. 'Living Extinctions: Visual Cultures Public Programme Autumn Term 2019'. In: Living Extinctions: Visual Cultures Public Programme Autumn Term 2019. Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom 4 October - 12 December 2019.

Turner, Lynn. 2018. 'How like a (fig) leaf'. In: Beyond Plant Blindness: Where can a single plant take you?. University of Gothenburg, Sweden 10 November 2018.

Turner, Lynn. 2018. 'Red: the cardio-pedagogy of White God'. In: 'Green' Society for Literature, Science & the Arts - EU (SLSA-eu). University of Copenhagen, United Kingdom 13 - 16 June 2018.

Turner, Lynn. 2018. 'In lieu of conclusion: the bloodless coups of White God'. In: Derrida Today 6. Concordia University, Canada 23-26 May 2018.

Turner, Lynn. 2017. '‘Give them some more time’: the ends of sacrifice in White God'. In: Out of Time, SLSA annual conference. Arizona State University, United States 9-12 November 2017.

Turner, Lynn. 2017. 'Sacrifice and Decision: cinematic carnophallogocentrism'. In: The Political Animal. The Showroom, London, United Kingdom 2 Sept 2017.

Turner, Lynn. 2017. 'Podcasting: The Becoming-Space of Voices’'. In: Wild Minds. ICA, London, United Kingdom 31 March 2017.

Turner, Lynn. 2017. 'The Oestrus Complex: soliciting the sexual contract of whale song'. In: Animal Utterances. University of Bristol, United Kingdom 25-26 May 2016.

Turner, Lynn. 2016. 'Voice (podcasting)'. In: Derrida Today. Goldsmiths, United Kingdom 08-11 June 2016.

Turner, Lynn and Anderson, Nicole. 2016. 'Derrida Today'. In: Derrida Today. Goldsmiths, United Kingdom 8-11 June 2016.

Turner, Lynn. 2015. 'Fort Spa: Biopoetics in Elizabeth A. Wilson, Sandor Ferenczi & Jacques Derrida'. In: 'After Biopolitics' Society for Literature, Science and the Arts, SLSA. Rice University, United States.

Roberdeau, Wood and Turner, Lynn. 2015. 'Critical Environments: Visual Cultures Public Programme Spring Term 2015'. In: Critical Environments: Visual Cultures Public Programme Spring Term 2015. Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom January-March 2015.

Turner, Lynn. 2014. 'Telefoam'. In: 4th Derrida Today conference. Fordham University, United States 28 May - 31 May 2014.

Turner, Lynn. 2013. 'Insect Asides (Deconstruction is/in Performance Philosophy)'. In: What is Performance Philosophy?. University of Surrey, United Kingdom.

Turner, Lynn. 2012. 'Secrets and Lies: eating in the darkness in China Mieville's Embassytown'. In: Cosmopolitan Animals. UCL, United Kingdom.

Turner, Lynn. 2011. ''Tape' plays Teletribunals'. In: Legal media: a colloquium in memory of Cornelia Vismann. Showroom, London, United Kingdom 10-11 June 2011.

Turner, Lynn. 2011. 'Two genetically modified films'. In: Life Itself. Goldsmiths, London, United Kingdom 28 January 2011.

Turner, Lynn. 2010. 'Homing pigeon: the postal principle and Lynn Hershmann's 'Conceiving Ada''. In: Derrida Today. London, United Kingdom 19-21 July 2010.

Turner, Lynn. 2009. 'Telecommunications: the undoing of DNA'. In: 7th European Feminist Research Conference. Utrecht, Netherlands 4-7 June 2009.

Audio

Turner, Lynn. 2014. PAPERWEIGHT RADIO: ANIMALS (S2, EP2).

Further profile content

Grants and awards

2007: AHRC Research Leave Scheme

2010: BA Overseas Travel Grant

Guerrilla Gardening

While my blog is quite outdated - http://guerillere.blogspot.com/ - there is a lot there documenting South London guerrilla planting, about which I have been interviewed by students from various disciplines. My greening practices today are mostly linked with the St John's Society's greening group and the Friendly St Gardens in Deptford.