In recent years, we have witnessed a renewed interest in the work of Simone de Beauvoir, both among a general audience, and in academic fields such as philosophy, the social sciences, and literary theory. This upsurge has inspired new readings of Beauvoir’s most famous work, The Second Sex (or. 1949), and drew attention to her wider oeuvre, including her autobiographies and political interventions. Offering nuanced reinterpretations of her feminism, new studies of Beauvoir have also spotlighted her commitment to various other emancipatory struggles like the decolonial fight for Algerian independence, the opposition to right-wing thought, and the establishment of alternative forms of kinship besides biological motherhood. This symposium builds on this recent scholarship, and starts from the conviction that Beauvoir’s concepts and acts of solidarity and activism provide a ‘toolkit’ that offers the philosophical means to problematize contemporary politics. As ‘tools’, they are sharpened and adjusted for contemporary applications, by bringing in new perspectives and approaches that are only partially pre-figured in the ‘kit’ Beauvoir herself provided.
This event will be open to faculty, students, and the general audience. Attendance is free but the organizers friendly ask for online registration.
More information here.