Research
I’m primarily a historian of political thought. My two main areas of research are early modern political ideas and twentieth century intellectual history, especially the history of feminist politics and political theory.
In early modernity, I’ve written on the history of European ideas of empire and the state, of citizenship and slavery, and on arguments about the nature and purpose of political philosophy itself. I am especially interested in the relationship between philosophy and imaginative literature in this period, the early modern reception of Aristotle's Politics and the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes. I am currently editing The Cambridge History of Democracy ,1200-1800.
My interest in the project and politics of political theory extends to my work on feminism. One focus of my research, much of which involves unpublished archival material, is on the ways that feminist authors across the twentieth century theorised in response to questions that are still with us: from work and social reproduction to coalition and collective action. I am also interested in the intersections between activist and academic approaches to feminist theory, about feminist engagements with so-called ‘mainstream’ political theory and about what these histories suggest for the future of feminist inquiry.
Finally, I've written about broader historiographical debates about both the history of political philosophy/theory and of intellectual history in the twentieth century. I have a two-part article on Women and Intellectual History in the Twentieth Century forthcoming in the Journal of the History of Ideas.
Alongside my research, I am one of the Executive Editors of the Journal of the History of Ideas, the longest-running journal of intellectual history. I am always happy to talk to graduate students or post-docs thinking about preparing a manuscript for submission.
Teaching
I am on leave until 2026 and will not be taking on any new graduate or undergraduate teaching until then.
