Sam Bourcier is a French sociologist and lecturer at Charles de Gaulle University – Lille III.[1] They are a transfeminist and queer activist. According to Bourcier's twitter, they use the French gender-neutral neopronoun iel.[2]

They are the author of numerous books and articles on queer cultures, theories and politics, sexual subcultures (such as BDSM), feminism, transfeminism, minorities, and identity politics in France and abroad.[3]

Life edit

Sam Bourcier was born Marie-Hélène Bourcier on 30 October 1963 in Berlin, where their father was an infantry colonel. They studied at the Maison d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Bourcier later studied at the École Normale Supérieure de Saint-Cloud (class of 1982), where they defended a doctoral thesis in 1988. They have described themself as the "child of French post-structuralism."[4]

Bourcier has played an important role in the introduction of queer theory into France[5] through public seminars (the "Q Seminars," which ran from 1996-1998)[6] and their trilogy Queer Zones (2001-2006).[7] They also have translated the work of French-American writer Monique Wittig, Italian-American academic Teresa de Lauretis and the Spanish writer Paul B. Preciado into French.

From September 2000 to June 2001, Bourcier was invited to New York University as part of a Fulbright fellowship,[8] with the post-doctoral subject Queer Theory and French Philosophy: The Politics of Inverted Translation.[9][3]

In 2002, Bourcier founded the group Archilesb, which advocates for the inclusion of lesbian history in Paris's planned gay history archive centre.[10] More broadly, Bourcier has criticised exclusion within LGBTQI communities.

Although Bourcier underwent a Lacanian analysis for seven years, they have since taken a public position against Lacanianism and the psychiatrization of trans identity.[11]

References edit

  1. ^ Marie-helene, Bourcier. "Marie-helene BOURCIER - Université de Lille". pro.univ-lille.fr (in French). Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  2. ^ Bourcier, Sam. "Sam Bourcier (@mhbourcier1)". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  3. ^ a b "On a parlé théorie queer avec Sam Bourcier". www.vice.com (in French). 16 November 2018. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  4. ^ Marie-Hélène, Bourcier (2004-01-28). "Cultural studies et politiques de la discipline : talk dirty to me!". multitudes (in French). Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  5. ^ Bardou, Florian. "En France, les "Queer studies" au ban de la fac". Libération (in French). Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  6. ^ Q comme queer : les séminaires Q du Zoo (1996-1997). Marie-Hélène Bourcier, Zoo. Lille: Gai Kitsch Camp. 1998. ISBN 2-908050-46-3. OCLC 44618104.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. ^ Bourcier, Sam (2018). Queer zones : la trilogie. Paul B. Preciado. Paris. ISBN 978-2-35480-174-8. OCLC 1078141677.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ "Recherche alumni | Commission Franco-Américaine Fulbright". fulbright-france.org. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  9. ^ "Marie-Helene Bourcier | Fulbright Scholar Program". fulbrightscholars.org. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  10. ^ Dictionnaire des féministes : France, XVIIIe-XXIe siècle. Christine Bard, Sylvie Chaperon. 2017. pp. 195–197. ISBN 978-2-13-078720-4. OCLC 972902161.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. ^ Bourcier, Marie-Hélène (January 2012). "Cultural translation, politics of disempowerment and the reinvention of queer power and politics". Sexualities. 15 (1): 93–109. doi:10.1177/1363460711432107. ISSN 1363-4607. S2CID 146775169.