Warwick University's Professor Alex Sharpe presents LGBTQ+ History Month Lecture on Bowie Love
Thursday 13 February 2025
6:00 pm
Trinity Hall Lecture Theatre, Trinity Hall, Trinity Lane, Cambridge, CB2 1TJ
Free
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Prof. Alex Sharpe
Abstract
This lecture will consider the idea of love as agape, a Greco-Christian term capturing the idea of a love for humanity. It will be argued that it is this love, which privileges otherness over self, love over law, that cascades through David Bowie’s work. In thinking through Bowie love, the lecture will draw on philosophers, Max Scheler and Alain Badiou, as well as fierce opponent of agape, Friedrich Nietzsche. The lecture will explore three love lessons apparent in Bowie’s work: love as letting go; love as humility; and love as posthuman. However, it will begin by explaining how Bowie subverted social norms which parade as necessity, and therefore, how Bowie love is inextricably tied up with freedom, yours and mine.
Bowie will function as a conduit, a lightning rod, serving to bring the lecture to life. The lecture promises to be an audio-visual feast, accompanied by Bowie text, images, and music from his back catalogue. It will be approximately 45 minutes duration and will be followed by a Q&A with Alex. For more information on Alex see: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/people/alex_sharpe/
Alex works in the areas of social and legal theory; law, ethics and aesthetics; legal history; criminal justice; gender and sexuality; and law and popular culture. She is the author of over a hundred publications, including four sole-authored monographs. Her most recent book is: David Bowie Outlaw: essays on difference, authenticity, ethics, art & love (London: Routledge, 2022) https://www.routledge.com/David-Bowie-Outlaw-Essays-on-Difference-Authenticity-Ethics-Art--Love/Sharpe/p/book/9780367691066
As part of her public engagement, she has presented public lectures on ideas and David Bowie at cinemas, theatres and festivals around the world and has participated in panel discussions on the importance of Bowie with, among others, Woody Woodmansey, the legendary drummer in Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
Registration
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