A lecture about 18th century secret societies and their exclusion of women will be held on Eastern Michigan University’s campus Jan. 9.
The lecture is titled “Fraternal Conspiracy and the Subject of Feminism.” It is being held in the Student Center Ballroom B on campus, starts at 5:30 p.m. and is expected to go to 7 p.m. It is open to the public and costs nothing to attend. Professor Laurie A. Finke will be speaking.
“My talk will explore the history of Freemasonry, asking why this group needs secrets and why the exclusion of women from those secrets matters? Since Freemasonry’s exclusion of women set the precedent for women’s exclusion from nearly all fraternities, this question has wide-ranging implications. The fraught relationship between feminism and fraternity is theoretically significant,” Finke said.
Finke was optimistic about turn-out for the lecture and was looking forward to sharing her research with the EMU community.
“I think this lecture will appeal to a popular interest in conspiracy theories about esoteric and little understood organizations like the Freemasons, at the same time it has a lot to say about issues important to feminism and to all of us interested in understanding the workings of democracy,” Finke said.
Finke is a professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at Kenyon (Ohio) College, and has been the director of that program for 20 years.
She is a McAndless Distinguished Professor and has written on a variety of subjects as well as co-authoring two books – “King Arthur and the Myth of History” and “Cinematic Illuminations: The Middle Ages on Film.” She is also co-teaching a course on fraternities offered jointly by the English Department and women’s and gender studies program this semester.