Brown University book club promotes queer theory through marine biology memoir
Brown University’s LGBTQ Center promoted a ‘Lavender Reads’ event on social media, telling attendees that they would learn about sexuality, relationships, and survival through a discussion of a marine biology memoir.
Brown's Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology co-sponsored the event with the LGBTQ Center.
Brown University’s LGBTQ Center hosted a book club meeting focusing on biracial identity, queer theory, and environmentalism through discussion of a memoir on marine biology.
Brown’s Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology co-sponsored the event with the LGBTQ Center. An Instagram post for the event states that attendees would read a book titled How Far The Light Reaches by author Sabrina Imbler.
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According to the Instagram post, attendees would learn what is considered a “powerful blend of memoir and marine biology exploring environmentalism, queer theory, and biracial identity through the lens of deep-sea creatures and personal reflection.”
The post adds that the first 20 attendees who registered for the event in advance would also receive a free copy of the book.
The post’s description adds that the book focuses on one “creature” at a time, using examples such as a “mother octopus who starves herself while watching over her eggs, the Chinese sturgeon whose migration route has been decimated by pollution and dams,” and others.
“Imbler discovers that some of the most radical models of family, community, and care can be found in the sea,” the post’s description continues. “Exploring themes of adaptation, survival, sexuality, and care, and weaving the wonders of marine biology with stories of their own family, relationships, and coming of age, How Far the Light Reaches is a book that invites us to envision wilder, grander, and more abundant possibilities for the way we live.”
Imbler, who is also a Brown alumnus, is featured online as a writer with “they/them” pronouns. The biography also says that Imbler is a “queer, mixed race writer working in a largely white, male field.”
The LGBTQ Center is described on the university’s website as operating under the university’s Division of Campus Life and offers “spaces, programming and opportunities for LGBTQ+ students at Brown to connect socially and academically.”
Campus Reform contacted Brown University for comment but has not received a response by publication. This article will be updated accordingly.
