Dr Lynn Turner
Staff details
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 one of the assistant editors of Derrida Today and sits on the board of several book series as well as Goldsmiths Press.
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).
Current projects include a new edited collection under the working title of Erotics of Deconstruction: autoaffection of the living for which she is writing on the future of blood in the context of rape as a military weapon in the work of Jenny Holzer; two articles on abortion in Portrait of a Lady on Fire; and a small book called Fig.
You can find the conversation celebrating the publication of Poetics of Deconstruction on the Visual Cultures YouTube channel.
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
Dr Lynn Turner lead the BA in History of Art from 2005 – 2010, developed the public profile of the department from 2010 to 2013, and lead the MA in Contemporary Art Theory from 2013 to 2016. From 2016 to 2019 she served as the departmental Chair of Research and Development.
In 2019 she returned to leading the department’s flagship MA in Contemporary Art Theory.
She currently teaches an MA Special Subject called 'Sex, Gender, Species' as well as sometimes contributing to the MA Core Course and delivering occasional seminars to our PhD community. She has team-taught the first year module 'Seeing and Showing', and now leads the final year undergraduate modules on ‘Sexual Poetics’ and ‘Animalities’.
Areas of supervision
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: the ‘Poetics of the Orifice’ and Multispecies Surrogacy.’
She has supervised to completion seven theses on the following topics:
Autobiography, Art-writing and Erotic Responsiveness; Gender, Hospitality and Edible Art; Alterity and Animality in contemporary South African art; Taxidermy in contemporary art; the Horror of Voice; The Audiovisual Adventures of the Political Name; Autoimmunity and Science Fiction (AHRC-funded).
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 Linkoping (Sweden).
Professional projects
Co-convenor, with Wood Roberdeau, of the Critical Environments Public Programme, Spring 2015.
Co-director, with Nicole Anderson (Macquarie University, Sydney), of the 5th Derrida Today conference, held at Goldsmiths, 8-11 June 2016.
Co-convenor, with Wood Roberdeau, of the Living Extinctions Public Programme, Autumn 2019.
Featured publications
- 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.
- Monograph, Poetics of Deconstruction: on the threshold of differences, Bloomsbury, 2020. ISBN 9781 35012 8590
- Co-edited book (with Undine Sellbach and Ron Broglio), The Edinburgh Companion to Animal Studies, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2018. ISBN: 1474418414
- Book chapter: ‘Telefoam: species on the shores of Cixous and Derrida’ in European Posthumanism, Ivan Callus, Stefan Herbrechter, & Manuela Rossini, eds. London and New York: Routledge, 2016 (reprinted from the European Journal of English Studies for the Routledge Special Issues as Books programme). ISBN: 113867584.
- Book chapter: ‘Critical Companions: Derrida, Haraway & Other Animals’ in Introducing Criticism in the 21st Century, 2nd Edition, Julian Wolfreys, ed. Edinburgh University Press, 2015, pp. 63-80. ISBN:9780748615759
Other interests
Lynn blogs her guerrilla gardening projects.
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. 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. 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. 2002. ‘Translation Reading Sex’. Parallax, 8(4), pp. 57-70. ISSN 1353-4645
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. 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.
