Diane Detournay

Diane Detournay’s research interests focus on excavating the colonial and racial foundations of hegemonic feminist agendas. Her current book project, titled Feminist Visions of Freedom in the University, explores how feminist and anti-racist discourses get institutionalized by the contemporary university. Examining sites such as debates over academic freedom, revisions of Title IX policy, the incorporation of restorative justice by offices of student conflict management and the criminalization of critical race theory and gender studies, she argues that conceptions of freedom within the university are constituted by histories of racial slavery, colonial empire and settler dispossession. Diane’s courses include “Empire and Sexuality,” “Transnational Feminism,” “Gender and Sexuality in Postcolonial Literature” and “Race, Sex and the University.” In addition to her course offerings in English, Diane also teaches in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and American Studies. She serves on a range of committees at Fordham dedicated to issues of racial and gender justice.