Agenda
Charlotte Knowles: “What is gendered complicity?”
We are very happy to invite you to a talk by Dr Charlotte Knowles, professor of philosophy at University of Groningen, entitled “What is gendered complicity?” (see the abstract below).
Charlotte Knowles
What is gendered complicity?
Commentator: Barbara Bziuk (Utrecht University)
Friday, May 26th, 15:30-17:00
College Hall 1.05, Campusplein 1, Utrecht University
followed by drinks
If you would like to attend this event, please register here.
Abstract
In this talk I introduce the notion of ‘gendered complicity’, which I take to name the phenomenon of women perpetuating, reinforcing or in some way upholding their own subordination, rather than resisting it. I examine some existing presentations of this issue in the feminist literature, but argue that these cannot fully capture the phenomenon of gendered complicity, which is not only an issue pertaining to women ‘over there’, but is something of which we are all at risk of falling foul. I offer a characterization of gendered complicity as both a structural and a ‘personal’ phenomenon, and argue that to best understand and analyse gendered complicity we should take a phenomenological approach. I indicate how methods and insights from the phenomenological tradition can enable us to more fully capture and understand the phenomenon of gendered complicity, as well as potentially furnishing us with new resources for helping to overcome it.
Dr Charlotte Knowles is an Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of Groningen, specialising in feminist philosophy and phenomenology. She focusses primarily on complicity in gendered contexts, exploring notions of freedom, responsibility and agency. Before coming to Groningen, Charlotte worked in the UK. She received her PhD from Birkbeck College, University of London and held positions at Birkbeck and Oxford Brookes. Charlotte was an executive committee member for the Society for Women in Philosophy UK from 2012 – 2018. She is a member of the Centre for Gender Studies and a SCOOP fellow. As part of SCOOP, Charlotte is the primary supervisor for a project on gendered complicity as motivated ignorance. Charlotte is interested in public philosophy and writes a regular column, ‘Living the Life of the Mind’, for The Philosophers’ Magazine.
If you would like to attend this event, please register here.