Christine de Pizan Conference, November, Porto Alegre – Brazil

Christine de Pizan and the Querelle de Femmes: perspectives on the History of Philosophy

Call for proposals  

November 20th-22th.

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul – UFRGS

Porto Alegre, Brazil

Keynote speakers:  Karen Green (University of Melbourne), Sabrina Ebbersmeyer (University of Copenhagen), Christina Van Dyke (Columbia University).

Organizers: Ana Rieger Schmidt (UFRGS), Gislene Vale dos Santos (UFBA), Nastassja Pugliese (UFRJ).

TITLE AND TOPIC OF THE CONFERENCE:

The Congress will propose ‘Christine de Pizan and the querelle de femmes”

 as a pivotal theme aiming to provoke discussion on Christine de Pizan’s philosophical contribution.

We understand that Christine de Pizan has chief importance for the intellectual history of the Middle Ages and especially for the expansion of the philosophical canon in order to include women authors. Especially, we acknowledge that the attention of historians of philosophy to Pizan’s work is still limited.

The conference will consider abstracts covering all aspects of Christine de Pizan philosophical thought and its legacy. Submissions will be accepted in English, French, and Portuguese. Since the conference is international, we strongly suggest all talks to be given in English.

Call for proposals

Submissions should contain the title of the presentation, an abstract of about 1500 characters, as well as the author’s name and affiliation.

Talks will have 30 minutes of presentation and 15 minutes of discussion.

Email contact to send submissions: ana.rieger@gmail.com

Deadline for abstract submissions: 15th august 2023

Notifications of acceptance: 31th august 2023

Information about registration and the final program will be available on the conference’s website.

https://mulheresnahistoriadafilosofia.wordpress.com/

Margaret Cavendish at 400 – Oxford 14-15 July

MARGARET CAVENDISH AT 400

A conference to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of the birth of Margaret Cavendish

Mansfield College, University of Oxford

FREE REGISTRATION – email: paul.lodge@mansfield.ox.ac.uk

Friday 14th July

2.00-3.15 ‘Cavendish on Music’, Daniel Whiting (University of Southampton)
3.30-4.45 ‘Cavendish, Glanvill, and Witchcraft’, Paul Lodge (University of Oxford)

5.15-6.30 ‘Cavendish on Memory and Remembrance’, Marcy Lascano (University of Kansas)

Short break
6.45-7.15, Paul Lodge performs songs from Cantat Ergo Sumus, including settings of poems by Margaret Cavendish (www.paullodge.com/cantatergosumus)  

Sat 15th July

9.30-10.45 ‘Dancing Figures: Cavendish on Causation and Harmony’, Julia Borcherding (University of Cambridge)

11.00-12.15. ‘Cavendishian Modality’. Laura Georgescu (University of Groningen) 

1.30-2.45, ‘The Appendix to the Grounds and the Depth of Cavendish’s Ecology’, Peter West (Northeastern University, London)

Organisers: Marcy Lascano (Kansas), Paul Lodge (Oxford), Daniel Whiting (Southampton)

Sponsor: Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford

For more info, see: Margaret Cavendish at 400 – PhilEvents

Favourite new(ish) books on women philosophers

I was asked by Shepherd.com to create a page with five of my favourite books on a topic of my choice. So of course I picked women philosophers.

But I had a hard time choosing just five even among the ones I have read in the past two years. So I tried to find something for everyone’s taste:

Here’s my list.

You should definitely read all of them if you haven’t already!

There are some obviously missing, either because I read them too late or haven’t gotten my hands on them yet:

Charlotte Gordon’s Romantic Outlaws, which I had only been able to read excerpt by excerpt until two months ago, when I finally got my hands on a whole copy and devoured it from beginning to end.

Regan Penaluna’s How to think like a woman, which I read when it came out and was a revelation.

And then those I haven’t yet read:

Alison Stone’s Women Philosophers in 19th century Britain – I’m waiting for my copy to arrive from OUP .

Christina van Dyke’s A Hidden Wisdom – ditto, but I might go for the audiobook.

Lydia Moland’s Lydia Maria Child – waiting for my library copy.

And of course these are specifically about women moral, social or political philosophers. And if you want to read metaphysics and epistemology, there are a lot more new books to look at!

Diotima and Dance, Kemal Payza’s Amour, Mort et Creation

Kemal Payza created a contemporary dance which includes a choreography to Diotima’s speech in the Symposium.

You can view the video here. Below is the description from YouTube and links to program and other related materials:

“This is a contemporary dance that explores the relationships between the philosophical themes of love (Eros), death (separation) and creation (or procreation), as envisaged by the ancient Greek philosophers Plato, Socrates, and Diotima of Mantinea. In this program, five choreographers explore their own relationships with these three themes, as well as with the “Four Elements” (Earth, Water, Air and Fire). As death reminds us of the transient nature of all things, the choreographers respond to ephemerality by expressing in movement various aspects of the themes as seen from 15 very different viewpoints, as well as the importance of savoring our relationships and appreciating art, music, and dance while we can. There is some French in spoken text and song lyrics; translation is in the English flyer in the dropbox link below. Comments are welcome.”

Conceived and produced by: Kemal Payza Artistic Director : Julio Hong Presented at Théâtre Le Gesù 30 Avril 2022, Montréal.

Choreographers : Yelda Leyva, Eva Kolarova, Catherine Dagenais-Savard, Julio Hong, and Niosbel Gonzalez Rubio.

Danseurs : Louise Gamain, Alida Esmail, Yelda Leyva, Madison Long, Hugo Pimentel, Keenan Simik Komaksiutiksak, Niosbel Osmar, González Rubio.

Background/Program/Musique (read posts from bottom to top) : https://www.facebook.com/events/49088…

French flyer https://www.dropbox.com/sh/eo8z77pfk9…

English flyer https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qyd1w8lv0t…

Contact : kempayza@gmail.com

Talk by Sandrine Berges on Lucrezia Marinella at KCL

Date: Thursday 13 April, 2pm.

Place : King’s College London, Bush House SE 1.08.

Registration: there’s no need to register but you should email Alan Coffee (alan.coffee@kcl.ac.uk) so that he can give you name to the reception desk. 

Title: 

Womanly Glory and Consolation: Lucrezia Marinella’s (1571-1653) Essortationi (1645) 

Abstract: 

Lucrezia Marinella, having spent a lifetime writing, and contra Aristotle, arguing in her Nobility and Excellence of Women(1601) for women’s natural intellectual superiority to men, then apparently recanted all this in a final book, Exhortation to women and others if they please (1645), claiming that “A woman’s reputation must not leave the walls of her home”. Why did Marinella change her mind at the age of 74? I believe that she did not, in fact reverse her views so much as apply them to a wider population (one consisting of men and women). Most people, she now believed, are better off living domestic lives, and the life of the intellect is only suited to a minority or men and women. But, she argues, domestic activities are also valuable, and women who rule their households well contribute to the overall flourishing of humanity. I show how Marinella developed her views from an unorthodox reading of Aristotle, taking into account book I of his Politics, but also his Economics (the authorship of which she did not question). 

CFP: Women in/and Logic

CALL FOR PAPERS
Special Issue of Australasian Journal of Logic on Women in/and Logic

https://ojs.victoria.ac.nz/ajl/announcement/view/2

Recent research has shown that many academic disciplines, mathematics 
and philosophy included, suffer from a problematic gender imbalance, 
with women disproportionately underrepresented in publications, academic 
positions, and in the teaching syllabi. Recognition of this fact has 
come with a push to revisit the history of these fields to resurrect and 
rehabilitate the contributions of women.

A special issue of the Australasian Journal of Logic, edited by Sara L.
Uckelman (Durham), on the subject of Women in/and Logic will be compiled 
in order to contribute to this project. We invite contributed papers 
dealing with any topic concerning women and logic, including:

* Historical texts on logic written by women
* Women in logic in the 21st century
* Women’s access to the study and teaching of logic
* Feminist logic

Submissions (preferably in pdf or doc) will be peer reviewed according 
to the standards of the AJL, and should be submitted through the AJL 
editorial portal, following the instructions for submissions here:

https://ojs.victoria.ac.nz/ajl/about/submissions

Queries can be directed to the editor at s.l.uckelman@durham.ac.uk

Submission Deadline: May 30, 2023

Become a Volunteer for the Wollstonecraft Society!

Job Type: Voluntary

Category: Media and Communications

Sector: Charity

Job Description – BRINGING HUMAN RIGHTS ALIVE! 

The Wollstonecraft Society www.wollstonecraftsociety.org is a registered charity bringing Mary Wollstonecraft’s legacy of human rights, equality and justice into young people’s lives. Wollstonecraft herself overcame limited education and a background of domestic violence to become an educational and political pioneer, and one of the greatest thinkers of the eighteenth century. As a human rights champion she inspired the suffrage movement, and Gladstone’s founding of state education for all children in 1870.  Our work focuses on education: primary school KS1/2 resources and the accreditation of completing schools as ‘Wollstonecraft Schools’; and community and on-line engagement. But we’ve also put on a West End show and a series of high-profile lectures. The media and communications volunteer would work under the guidance of the journalist and author who volunteers with the working group.

Tasks:

·       monitor key media and platforms to identify opportunities to promote our work, and create new lines for profile building. 

·       develop our social media presence, with creative copy-writing skills and a love of feminist justice!

·       draft and manage our Newsletter (approx. 4 times a year) using Mailchimp

Hours: flexible as this is a reactive role when opportunities arise. However it would be welcome if a volunteer could commit to around 4 hours per week. 

Prospective volunteers should ideally have some experience in media and communications in the UK. We will welcome someone full of energy and initiative, with the willingness to learn. Writing skills needed, along with an understanding of how media and communications can be used for impact. The volunteer will work as part of a friendly and supportive team attending occasional virtual meetings (average 4-5 a year.)  

Best wishes – and thank you for considering this possibility

How to apply: please send a CV to admin@wollstonecraftsociety.org telling us why you’d like to volunteer.  

Closing Date:  Monday 17^th April 

On-line interviews via Zoom will be held for shortlisted candidates between 21-22 April 

volunteer-media-and-communications-1Download

Rewriting the History of Political Thought from the Margins, Berlin 7-9 June.

On June 7-9 2023 the Research and Teaching Unit Political Theory of Humboldt University of Berlin hosts a hybrid conference on “Rewriting the History of Political Thought from the Margins” at Jacob‐und‐Wilhelm‐Grimm‐Zentrum. 

Rewriting the History of Political Thought from the Margins

June 7‐9, 2023, at the Humboldt University of Berlin

Auditorium Jacob‐und‐Wilhelm‐Grimm‐Zentrum, Geschwister‐Scholl‐Straße 1/3, 10117

In contemporary political theory, there is a widespread commitment to rewrite its history in order to include that which has been marginalized. Yet, while there is agreement on what this history should not look like – a select number of monographs written by and on a handful of white, European men – there is no such consensus as to what it means to rewrite it in such way that it pays more attention to social, cultural, and political agency at its margins. Our conference aims to address this lacuna, and sets up a conversation between the various ways in which scholars are rewriting the history of political thought. With this dialogue between the various subfields of political theory, we hope to overcome institutional, methodological, and thematic divides.

This conference is organized around three, mutually compatible conceptions of rewriting the history of political thought from the margins that roughly correspond to three different approaches in political theory: i) the interrogation of key concepts, such as sovereignty, community, and the nation; ii) the inclusion of neglected authors, typically women or non-Western thinkers; iii) the prioritization of concrete political struggles as sites of theory formation. Furthermore, and running through these three conceptions, are methodological questions, especially concerning material (re)sources as well as strategic issues regarding the institutions in which political theory is taught and researched today.

This hybrid conference takes place on June 7-9 2023 at Humboldt University of Berlin, and is hosted by the Research and Teaching Unit Political Theory. Attendance is free of charge but please register by June 1, by using the registration form below. Precirculated papers will be distributed late May, and we like to ask attendants to read these in advance.

Organizers: Ieva Motuzaite, Alessandro Mulieri, Jenny Pelletier, and Liesbeth Schoonheim

More information and program: conference program

Registration: registration form

For more information, please email the organizers at motuzaii[at]hu-berlin.de and liesbeth.schoonheim[at]hu-berlin.de

Program

June 7

 11.00‐11.30: Registration

 11.30‐12.00: Welcome by the organizers (Ieva Motuzaite, Liesbeth Schoonheim, Jenny Pelletier, Alessandro Mulieri)

 12.00‐14.15: Panel 1: Nation and Community
Moderator:  Simon Clemens  

• Ayse Su: A Critique of Contractarianism: The Enemy Within and the Ottoman Nation, 1856‐ 1916
• Parth Shrimali: (Post)Colonial histories of the Political: ‘Community’ in South Asian Political Thought (precirculated paper)
• Julia Costa Lópes: Contesting Communities in the African Atlantic

 14.15‐14.30: Coffee break

 14.30‐16.45: Panel 2: Nation and Empire 
Moderators: Nadja Spatzl & Simin Jawabreh

• Gurminder Bhambra: Misrepresentation and Marginalisation of History within European Political Thought – On Empires, Nations, and Sovereignty (precirculated paper)
• Sebastián León, Stephan Gruber: Anti‐Imperialism, Third‐Worldism and the Reinvention of Political Theory: Lessons from Latin America (precirculated paper)
• Jeanette Ehrmann: Beyond the Black Jacobins and the Black Sansculottes: Exploring the Margins and the Counter-Archives of the Haitian Revolution

 16.45‐17.00: Coffee break

 17.00‐18.45: Panel 3: Markers of Modernity
Moderator: Jeanette Ehrmann

• Ẹniọlá Ànúolúwapọ́ Ṣóyẹmí: Dislocating Rationality: Zar’a Yacob and the Possibility of Reasoned Modernities
• Sanjay Seth: Political Theory: The (European) Bourgeois Public Sphere in Miniature

June 8

 9.00-9.15: Opening (Alessandro Mulieri)

 9.15‐11.00: Panel 4: Authority and Religion
Moderator: Marina Solntseva

• Tal Correm: Dissident Speech, Silent Injustice, and the Limits of Political Authority
• Catarina Belo: Religion and Politics in Alfarabi’s The Virtuous City

 11.00 ‐11.15: Coffee break

 11.15‐13.00: Panel 5: Genre and Gender 
Moderator: Christian Jacobs

• Marguerite Deslauriers: Political Questions in Popular Pro‐Woman Works of the Renaissance
• Elias Buchetmann: Tapping Cross‐Cultural (Re)sources: Translations and the History of Political Thought

 13.00‐14.00: Lunch break

 14.00‐15.45: Panel 6: Republicanism and Its Others 
Moderator: Jonathan Stahl

• Benjamín Gaillard‐Garrido: Simón Rodríguez: Criollo Republicanism in the Age of Capital
• Sandrine Bergès: Cornelia’s Comeback: Politics at home in Revolutionary France

 15.45-16.15: Coffee break

 16.15‐ 18.30: Panel 7: Class and Solidarity I
Moderator: Mariana Caldas

• Hayley Rose Malouin: The Undesirable Citizen: Poverty and Social Division in Ancient Democratic Athens (online)
• Peter King: Christine de Pizan in Women’s Solidarity as a Political Force (online)
• Megan Gallagher: The Grand Ruin: Prostitution and Class in Wollstonecraft’s Thought (online, precirculated paper)

 Conference dinner 

June 9

 9.00-9.15: Opening (Jenny Pelletier)

 9.15‐11.00: Panel 8: From Courage to Resistance in Theory
Moderator: Danni Gobbi

• Bodi Wang: Taking back philosophy’s courage to know
• Peyman Amiri: Formulating a Native Praxis of Resistance within a Global Struggle

 11.00‐11.15: Coffee break

 11.15‐13.00: Panel 9: Nature Reconsidered 
Moderator: Judith Möllhoff

• Sophia Hatzisavvidou: On nature as a political concept: Reading Margaret Cavendish amidst a climate emergency
• Simon Kleinert: From the margins for the marginalized – Meta Wellmer’s activism for animal rights

 13.00‐14.00: Lunch break

 14.00‐15.45: Panel 10: Struggles to Move beyond Anthropology
Moderator: Hannah Voegele

• Andrew Johnson: Fragments of an Abolitionist Anthropology (precirculated paper)
• Anthony Bogues: Black Critique ‐ Towards an Alternative History of Political Thought (online)

 15.45-16.15: Coffee break

 16.15-18.30: Panel 11: Class and Solidarity II 
Moderator: Daniel Staemmler

• Samuel Hayat: Workers’ writings as a source for the history of political thought (precirculated paper)
• Nicholas Devlin: Three Obstacles to a Non‐Canonical History of Marxism
• Jasmine Corley‐Schulz and Miriam Corley‐Schulz: Force and Freedom: The Warsaw Ghetto’s Paris Commune (online)

 18.30‐19.00: Closing Roundtable 
Moderators: Ieva Motuzaite & Liesbeth Schoonheim

Bring Olympe to the Pantheon!

Sylvia Duverger and a few others have put together a petition to Macron, asking him to add Olympe de Gouges to the Pantheon.

Please add your name to the hundreds already there, and help persuade the French president!

Send an email to sylvia.duverger@orange.fr, with the subject line Olympe de Gouges, and your name, title and affiliation in the text.

If you would like to read the petition in English, with reference to Gouges’s texts translated in English by Clarissa Palmer, you can now do so here.

International Women’s Day – Free Cambridge Elements

Celebrate International Women’s Day by downloading free books from the Cambridge Elements Series on women in the history of philosophy!