Heather Tapley
Position
Status
On Leave
Contact
Credentials
PhD 2003, English, University of Alberta
Area of expertise
Queer Theory/Queer Materialism, Feminist Theory, Cultural Studies, Monster Theory
Joined UVic Gender Studies in 2007
Trained in Queer Theory, Dr. Tapley has a penchant for poststructuralism. Her work aims to destabilize the normal/abnormal binary foundational to Western narratives of Truth designed to generate and stabilize assumptions regarding valued and devalued bodies and practices. Rather than use the term queer as an identity sign, she deploys queer as anti-capitalist practice, enabling connections between disparate embodied Subjects formerly separated by divide-and-conquer capitalist strategies. In particular, Dr. Tapley employs the monster as an anti-capitalist aggregate in which the disenfranchised converge, a site from which a queer politic can be generated.
Research Interests
- Queer Theory
- Feminist Theory
- Monster Theory
- Cultural Studies
Courses Designed and Taught
- GNDR 206 Monstrous Women
- GNDR 210 The Zombie in Popular Culture
- GNDR 330 Feminist Thought, Past and Present
- GNDR 331 Queering the Undead
- GNDR 334 Bodies Out of Bounds
Selected Publications
“Edgy Un/Intelligibilities: Feminist/Monster Theory meets Ginger Snaps”, Atlantis, Vol 37, No 2 (2), 2016, pp. 122–133.
“The Making of Hobo Masculinities”, Canadian Review of American Studies, Vol. 44 (1), 2014, pp. 25-43.
“Queering Paradise: Toni Morrison’s anti-capitalist production”, Feminist Theory, Vol. 14 (21), 2013, pp. 21-37.
“Mapping the HoboSexual: a Queer Materialism”, Sexualities, Vol. 15 (3/4), 2012, pp. 373 – 390.
“Schulman’s Urban Lesbian: a HoboSexual Pedestrian Rhetoric”, Journal of Lesbian Studies, Vol. 16, 2012, pp. 238 – 251.