Joan Copjec

Joan Karen Copjec (born 1946) is an American philosopher, theorist, author, feminist, and prominent Lacanian psychoanalytic theorist. She is Professor of Modern Culture & Media at Brown University. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1946, her family is of Czech ancestry. She pursued her education across several institutions, earning a Ph.D. in Cinema Studies from New York University in 1986. Prior to her current position at Brown University, she held various academic roles at the State University of New York University at Buffalo for over two decades, including serving as the Director of the Center for Study of Psychoanalysis and Culture. Copjec is a strong proponent of psychoanalytic theory, especially as articulated by Jacques Lacan, and its application to film studies. She has articulated her views on the importance of psychoanalysis in understanding concepts like the unconscious, drive, and fantasy, contrasting it with other theoretical approaches. She has also expressed a distinct position from gender theory, focusing on the salvaging of sex and sexual difference and opposing what she calls "gender theory," which she believes aims to eliminate sexual difference. Copjec has also critically engaged with identity politics, viewing identity as a fiction and arguing against its use as a basis for politics.