Born and raised in Canada, Bettcher did her undergraduate work at Glendon College before moving to Los Angeles to complete her Ph.D. at UCLA. She has two areas of scholarship:
TRANS STUDIES: She is interested in contemporary issues related to gender, sexuality, race, and the self. She currently focuses on the nature of transphobic violence and its relationship to sexual violence and racial oppression. She has a number of publications in print, and more forthcoming (go to her website for details).
EARLY MODERN PHILOSOPHY: She focuses on the immaterialist philosophy of George Berkeley (1685-1753). She is especially interested in his views about consciousness and the soul. She has a number of publications in print, and more forthcoming (go to her website for details), and 2 books (one will be out in early 2009).
TEACHING: She teaches graduate seminars on the British Empiricists, Early Modern Philosophy of Self, and Contemporary Philosophy of Self. She has also taught a graduate seminar on Queer Theory and Feminism ("Theorizing Genders and Sexualities"). At the undergraduate level, she regularly teaches the History of Modern Philosophy (Descartes through Kant) as well as other courses which allow her to focus on some of these major figures in greater detail.
She is also a performance artist, and has performed all across the country.
She was married to Susan Forrest in June, 2008.
