Reading seminars

The reading seminars focus on questions concerning women and the history of philosophy. During our meetings, we analyze and discuss a selected text of relevance to WHENCE.

Spring 2026

  • 02.2026: Maria Mårsell: Clarke, Danielle. 2024. ‘The early modern canon and the construction of women’s writing’. Textual Practice, 38:2, 299–317.
  • 02.2026: Bodil Hvass Kjems: Bredsdorff, Thomas. 2014. ‘Feminism with a Good Laugh – Holberg, Irony, and Equal Rights’. Scandinavistica Vilnensis, no. 9 (December): 17–26.
  • 03.2026: Martin Fog Arndal: Rosalind Smith – Chapter 2 ’Authorship, Attribution, and Voice in Early Modern Women’s Writings’. The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Women’s Writing in English, 1540-1700, pp. 23–38.
  • 04.2026: Sabrina Ebbersmeyer: TBA
  • 05.2026: Irina Hron: TBA

Fall 2025

  • 09.2025: Sabrina Ebbersmeyer: Shaping Women Philosophers (2025) – ‘The Precarious Identities of Early Modern Women Philosophers’.
  • 10.2025: Jelena Bundalovic: David de la Croix and Mara Vitale – ‘Women in European Academia before 1800—Religion, Marriage, and Human Capital’. European Review of Economic History, vol. 27, no. 4, 2023, pp. 506–32.
  • 10.2025: Martin Fog Arndal: Charlotte Sabourin – The Routledge Handbook of Women and Early Modern European Philosophy (2023) – ‘Critical Perspectives on Religion’.
  • 11.2025: Maria Mårsell: Joan Wallach Scott – Only Paradoxes to Offer (1996), ‘Preface’ (Only read the first 2,5 pages) + Chapter 1, ‘Rereading the History of Feminism’.
  • 11.2025: Irina Hron: Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel - On Improving the Status of Women (Über die bürgerliche Verbesserung der Weiber) (1792). 
  • 12.2025: Bodil Hvass Kjems: Ann Rosalind Jones – The Poetics of Gender (1986) – ‘Renaissance Gender Ideologies and Women’s Lyric’. 

Spring 2024

  • 20.02.2024: Moira Gatens – ‘Feminist Methods in the History of Philosophy, Or, Escape from Coventry’ in The Routledge Companion to Feminist Philosophy. Routledge (2017), pp. 13-22.
  • 05.03.2024: Sarah Hutton – “Context” and “Fortuna” in ‘The History of Women Philosophers: A Diachronic Perspective’, in Methodological Reflections on Women’s Contribution and Influence in the History of Philosophy. Springer (2020), pp. 29-42.
  • 13.03.2024: Sarah Tyson – Chapter 1. ‘Reclamation Strategies’ in Where Are the Women? Why Expanding the Archive Makes Philosophy Better. Columbia University Press (2018), pp. 1-52.
  • 03.04.2024: Robert Nelson – ‘Lutheranism and the Equality of Women in the Nordic Countries’ in On the Legacy of Lutheranism in Finland. Finish Literature Society (2019), pp. 193-219.
  • 16.04.2024: Birgitte Thott – Chapter 46 from Om Weyen till et Lycksalligt Liff. Optional: Lisa Hill & Eden Blazejak – ‘Stoic Feminism and Early Modern Women Writers’ in Stoicism and the Western Political Tradition. Palgrave Macmmillan (2021), pp. 191-223.
  • 01.05.2024: Dorothe Engelbretsdatter – Selected Psalms. Optional: Marie Nedregotten Sørbø – ‘Fighting for Her Profession: Dorothe Engelbretsdatter’s Discourse of SelfDefence’ in Economic Imperatives for Women's Writing in Early Modern Europe (2018), pp. 73-96.
  • 15.05.2024: Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht - Defence of the female sex against J. J. Rousseau, citizen of Geneva (1761). Trans. Alan Crozier. Lund: Ellerström. Optional reading: Matilda Amundsen Bergström (2023) – ’Our Sex's Rights Have Seen Such Autocratic Treatment: Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht on Women's Rights’ in Hypatia (2023), 38, 475–492.
  • 05.06.2024: Mathias Wullum Nielsen – ‘Scandinavian Approaches to Gender Equality in Academia: A Comparative Study’ in Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 2017, vol. 61 (3), pp. 295-318.