Lauran Whitworth
Phone: 404.471.6551
Email: lwhitworth@c178.net
Office Location: Buttrick Hall, 316
Academic Degrees
- BA, University of Georgia
- MA, The Ohio State University
- PhD, Emory University
Teaching and Scholarly Interests
Professor Whitworth is an interdisciplinary scholar who combines her training in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with her extensive background in Art History and Film and Media Studies. Her research interests include feminist and queer theory, sexuality studies, film and visual culture, specifically LGTBQ+ media studies, and ecocriticism. Her current book project, Environmental Eros: Picturing Feminist, Queer, and Trans Ecologies, brings together gender and sexuality studies, film studies, and environmental studies. The book focuses on the environmental ethics and activism of 1970s ecological feminisms, the Radical Faerie movement (ca. 1979-today), and several contemporary environmental groups, including the ecosexuality movement and the Queer Ecojustice Project (QEP). Whitworth conducts close readings of understudied literature, drawings, and films produced by figures associated with these back-to-the-land movements. She is also at work on two additional projects: one examines representations of rural LGBTQ+ life in narrative film and the other explores the role of film and media in the history of HIV/AIDS activism. In 2018, Professor Whitworth received the Karen Green Human Relations Award from The Gay Johnson McDougall Center for Global Diversity and Inclusion and the Coalition of Student Multicultural Organizations (COSMO).
Professional Activities
Whitworth is a member of the National Women's Studies Association (NWSA), the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), and the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE). Her scholarly work has appeared in Feminist Theory, Intersections: Women's and Gender Studies in Review Across Disciplines, and caa.reviews.
Areas of Expertise
- feminist and queer theory
- feminist film theory
- LGBTQ+ film and media studies
- rural sexuality studies
- queer ecologies
- experimental cinema
- eco-cinema