Join us on zoom on Thursday 14 November at 15.15 – 17.00 (CET), for this very special webinar on “The Genders of Waves” with the formidable Prof. Stefan Helmreich (MIT, USA)!
The Genders of Waves
“This paper explores the historical and symbolic gendering of ocean waves, tracing their representation as feminine and masculine forces across Judeo-Christian thought, Enlightenment philosophy, and natural science. Waves are often portrayed as feminine, embodying fluidity, chaos, and maternal power, in opposition to masculine rationality and control. Yet, they have also taken on masculine traits, seen in mythological figures like Poseidon or biblical descriptions of Yahweh’s dominion over the sea. The paper engages with posthuman and nonhuman studies, investigating how waves, as hyperobjects, blur traditional gender categories. By examining waves in literature, theology, and myth, alongside contemporary feminist and queer theory, the author suggests that waves operate as “tranimate” objects — entities that challenge and reconfigure concepts of gender, animacy, and materiality. Ultimately, the paper argues that waves exemplify the fluidity of gender itself, oscillating between forms, and invites a deeper interrogation of how natural forces intersect with human gender ideologies”.
Bio: Stefan Helmreich is Professor of Anthropology at MIT and author of Alien Ocean: Anthropological Voyages in Microbial Seas as well as A Book of Waves.