Professor Stella Sandford

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Stella Sandford
About
Teaching and learning
Research

About

I am Professor of Modern European Philosophy in the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy. I have recently completed a period as a Leverhulme Major Research Fellow (2018-2021) awarded for the project 'Sex Difference in Natural History'. The main outcome of this research is my forthcoming book, Vegetal Sex: Philosophy of Plants, to be publised by Bloomsbury in autumn 2022: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/vegetal-sex-9781350274921/.

I have published widely in the Philosophy of Sex and Gender, including my books Plato and Sex (2010), How to Read Beauvoir (2006), and The Metaphysics of Love: Gender and Transcendece in Levinas (2010). I am co-editor, with Mandy Merck, of Further Adventures of the Dialectice of Sex: Critical Essays on Shulamith Firestone (2010) and, with Peter Osborne, Philosophies of Race and Ethnicity (2002). I have also published in critical philosophy of race, especially in relation to the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, and on philosophy and psychoanalysis. I teach on all of the postgraduate courses in philosophy and supervise MA and MPhilStud dissertations, as well as  PhD supervision. I also teach on the BA English Literature course and the Humanities Foundation course. I welcome enquiries from potential research students in plant philosophy, philosophy of natural history, critical philosophy of race, philosophies of sex and gender and philosophy and psychoanalysis especially, but supervise in many areas in Modern European Philosophy. In both my teaching and my research I adopt a strongly interdisciplinary approach and encourage the same in students. I am currently working on the logic of systems of classification in Lévy-Strauss and Aristotle and their relation to transcendental philosophy and on a philosophy book for young people.

I am a member of the Executive Committee of the British Philosophical Association. Outside of academic life I am the Chair of the Board Governors of a local primary school.

Academic responsibilities

Professor of Modern European Philosophy

Qualifications

  • BA Philosophy and History of Ideas
  • MA Continental Philosophy
  • PhD in Philosophy

Teaching and learning

I teach on all the postgraduate courses in Philosophy and on some undergraduate and foundation courses in Humanities. In 2022–23 my postgraduate teaching duties will include the modules Kant and His Legacy (Kant's first Critique and his philosophy of race), Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, and Modes of Subjection.

I am the Course Leader for the MPhilStud (Master of Philosophical Studies) in Philosophy.

Postgraduate courses taught

Research

Current projects:

Vegetal Sex: Philosophy of Plants, Bloomsbury, 2022: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/vegetal-sex-9781350274921/

In recent years philosophers, botanists and mycologists have drawn our attention to the complexities of plant and fungal life. They have taught us why plants are better thought as colonies than individuals and how animal-centred ways of thinking fail to capture what is peculiar and perhaps admirable in vegetal life. They have taught us to appreciate the temporality and intricacy of vegetal existence and suggested how relations between plants might provide us with non-individualistic models of coexistence. But they have not, as yet, taught us much – if anything – about vegetal sex.

This book introduces the reader to the exciting new field of plant philosophy and takes it in a new direction to ask: what does it mean to say that plants are sexed? Do ‘male' and ‘female' really mean the same when applied to humans, trees, fungi and algae? Are the zoological categories of sex really adequate for understanding the – uniquely ‘dibiontic' – life cycle of plants?

Vegetal Sex addresses these questions through a detailed analysis of major moments in the history of plant sex, from Aristotle to the modern day. Tracing the transformations in the analogy between animals and plants that characterise this history, it shows how the analogy still functions in contemporary botany and asks: what would a non-zoocentric, plant-centred philosophy of vegetal sex be like?

By showing how philosophy and botany have been and still are inextricably entwined Vegetal Sex allows us to think vegetal being and, perhaps, to recognise the vegetal in us all.

This research was funded by the Leverhulme Trust (Major Research Fellowship, 2018–2021).

https://soundcloud.com/user-811300711/sets/stella-sandford

Areas of specialism

  • Philosophy of sex and gender
  • Plant philosophy
  • Critical philosophy of race
  • Immanuel Kant
  • Philosophy and Psychoanalysis

Scholarly affiliations

  • Fellow of the Linnean Society
  • British Philosophical Association
  • Society for European Philosophy
  • British Society for the History of Philosophy

Research student supervision

Main supervision

Other supervision

Publications

Jump to: Article | Book | Book Section | Conference or Workshop Item
Number of items: 72.

Article

[Reviewer] (2023) Eighteenth-Century Studies, 56(3), pp. 499-500. ISSN (print) 0013-2586

(2019) Redescriptions, 22(1), pp. 4-17. ISSN (online) 2308-0914

(2019) Sluice Magazine, Au-Win, pp. 36-41. ISSN (print) 2398-8398

(2018) Philosophy & Social Criticism, 44(9), pp. 950-977. ISSN (print) 0191-4537

(2018) Critical Philosophy of Race, 6(2), pp. 180-197. ISSN (print) 2165-8684

(2017) International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 98(1), pp. 91-110. ISSN (print) 0020-7578

(2016) Radical Philosophy(198), pp. 25-34. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(2015) Theory, Culture & Society, 32(5-6), pp. 159-182. ISSN (print) 0263-2764

(2015) Classical Review, 65(1), pp. 18-20. ISSN (print) 0009-840X

, , , , , , , , , Choat, Simon, Chu, Jonathan, , , , Dixon, Paul, , Finn, Peter, , , , Hawkins, Sue, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Micklethwaite, Paul, Morgan Wortham, Simon, , Osborne, Peter, , , , , Reid, Trish, , , , , , , , , , , , , , and (2014) The Guardian,

(2013) Radical philosophy(179), pp. 15-26. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(2011) Studies in the Maternal, 3(2), ISSN (online) 1759-0434

(2011) Radical philosophy(165), pp. 23-30. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(2008) Radical Philosophy(150), pp. 24-35. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(2007) Radical philosophy(145), pp. 28-35. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(2006) Radical Philosophy(140), pp. 51-53. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(2006) Angelaki: Journal of Theoretical Humanities, 11(3), pp. 43-59. ISSN (print) 0969-725X

(2005) South Atlantic Quarterly, 104(4), pp. 613-630. ISSN (print) 0038-2876

(2005) Radical Philosophy(133), pp. 52-55. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(2004) Radical Philosophy(127), pp. 35-40. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(2003) Radical Philosophy(120), pp. 11-22. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(2003) Radical Philosophy(118), pp. 36-38. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(2002) Radical Philosophy(113), pp. 43-45. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(2002) Mind, 111(442), pp. 491-499. ISSN (print) 0026-4423

(2001) Radical Philosophy(105), pp. 6-14. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(2000) Radical Philosophy(102), pp. 42-45. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(1999) Radical Philosophy, 97, pp. 18-29. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(1999) The Philosopher's Magazine, 7, pp. 43-45. ISSN (print) 1354-814X

(1999) Radical philosophy(95), pp. 55-57. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(1999) Radical Philosophy(95), pp. 57-58. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(1999) Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, 30(2), pp. 131-150. ISSN (print) 0007-1773

(1999) Angelaki: Journal of Theoretical Humanities, 4(3), pp. 61-73. ISSN (print) 0969-725X

(1998) Times Higher Education Supplement, ISSN (print) 0049-3929

(1998) Radical Philosophy(87), pp. 49-50. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(1997) Radical philosophy(81), pp. 50-51. ISSN (print) 0300-211X

(1996) Radical philosophy, 80, ISSN (print) 0300-211X

Book

(2022) London, U.K. : Bloomsbury Academic. 256p. ISBN 9781350274921 (In Press)

Merck, Mandy and Sandford, Stella, eds. (2010) Basingstoke, U.K. : Palgrave Macmillan. 304p. (Breaking Feminist Waves) ISBN 9780230100299

(2010) Cambridge, U.K. : Polity Press. 224p. ISBN 9780745626406

(2006) London, U.K. : Granta. 128p. (How to read) ISBN 1862078742

Sandford, Stella and Osborne, Peter, eds. (2002) London, U.K. : Continuum. 220p. ISBN 0826459943

(2000) London, U.K. : Athlone Press. 179p. ISBN 0485115662

Book Section

(2023) In: Choat, Simon and Rangotra, Manjeet, (eds.) Rethinking political thinkers. Oxford, U.K. : Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198847397 (In Press)

(2023) In: Lettow, Susannne and Pulkkinen, Tuija, (eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of German Idealism and Feminist Philosophy. Basingstoke, U.K. : Palgrave Macmillan. (Palgrave Handbooks in German Idealism) ISBN 9783031131226 (In Press)

(2021) In: Vassilopoulou, Panayiota and Whistler, Daniel, (eds.) Thought : a philosophical history. Abingdon, U.K. : Routledge. pp. 219-235. ISBN 9780367000103

(2020) In: Julius, Anthony , Quinn, Malcolm and Schofield, Philip, (eds.) Bentham and the Arts. London, U.K. : UCL Press. pp. 71-87. ISBN 9781787357389

(2019) In: Gipps, Richard and Lacewing, Michael, (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis. Oxford, U.K. : Oxford University Press. pp. 83-106. (Oxford Handbooks) ISBN 9780198789703

(2018) In: Malmkjaer, Kirsten , Serban, Adriana and Louwagie, Fransiska, (eds.) Key cultural texts in translation. Amsterdam, The Netherlands : John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 9-24. (Benjamins translation library, (140)) ISBN 9789027200402

(2017) In: Hengehold, Laura and Bauer, Nancy, (eds.) A companion to Simone de Beauvoir. Hoboken, U.S. : Wiley Blackwell. pp. 15-27. (Blackwell companions to philosophy, (65)) ISBN 9781118796023

(2017) In: Morgan, Anthony, (ed.) The Kantian catastrophe? Conversations on finitude and the limits of philosophy. Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, U.K. : Bigg Books. pp. 65-80. ISBN 9781999841300

(2016) In: Bornemark, Jonna and Smith, Nicholas, (eds.) Phenomenology of pregnancy. Huddinge, Sweden : Sodertorn University. pp. 51-70. (Sodertorn Philosophical Studies, (18)) ISSN (print) 1651-6834 ISBN 9789187843389

(2014) In: Cassin, Barbara , Apter, Emily , Lezra, Jacques and Wood, Michael, (eds.) Dictionary of untranslatables: a philosophical lexicon. Princeton : Princeton University Press. pp. 972-973. ISBN 9780691138701

(2013) In: Balibar, Etienne, (ed.) Identity and difference: John Locke and the invention of consciousness. London, U.K. : Verso. pp. xi-xlvi. ISBN 9781781681343

(2010) In: Merck, Mandy and Sandford, Stella, (eds.) Further Adventures of the Dialectic of Sex. Basingstoke, U.K. : Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 235-253. (Breaking Feminist Waves) ISBN 9780230100299

(2007) In: Kerslake, Christian and Brassier, Ray, (eds.) Origins and ends of the mind: philosophical essays on psychoanalysis. Leuven, Belgium : Leuven University Press. pp. 163-183. ISBN 9789058676177

(2005) In: Katz, Claire and Trout, Lara, (eds.) Emmanuel Levinas: Critical Assessments of Leading Philosophers. London, U.K. : Routledge. pp. 369-387. IV ISBN 0415310547

and (2002) In: Sandford, Stella and Osborne, Peter, (eds.) Philosophies of Race and Ethnicity. London, U.K. : Continuum. pp. 1-9. ISBN 0826459943

(2002) In: Critchley, Simon and Bernasconi, Robert, (eds.) The Cambridge companion to Levinas. Cambridge, U.K. : Cambridge University Press. pp. 139-160. ISBN 0521662060

(2001) In: Chanter, Tina, (ed.) Feminist Interpretations of Emmanuel Levinas. University Park, Pennsylvania : Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 180-202. ISBN 0271021136

(1996) In: Griffiths, M. and Whitford, M., (eds.) Women Review Philosophy: New Writing by Women in Philosophy. Nottingham : Nottingham University Press.

Conference or Workshop Item

(2010) In: From structure to rhizome: transdisciplinarity in French thought, 1945-the present: histories, concepts, constructions; 16 - 17 Apr 2010, London, U.K.. (Unpublished)

(2009) In: Situated selves: phenomenology, law and aesthetics; 30 - 31 Oct 2009, Liverpool, U.K.. (Unpublished)

(2009) In: Philosophy seminars; 19 Mar 2009, Hatfield, U.K.. (Unpublished)

(2008) In: Literary and critical theory seminar; 03 Dec 2008, London, U.K.. (Unpublished)

(2008) In: Fourth Annual Joint Conference of the Society for European Philosophy and the Forum for European Philosophy; 29 - 31 Aug 2008, Dublin, Ireland. (Unpublished)

(2008) In: The legacies of Simone de Beauvoir: 16th Simone de Beauvoir Society Conference; 13 - 15 Jun 2008, Newcastle, U.K.. (Unpublished)

(2008) In: Embodiment and Identity; 22 - 23 May 2008, Hull, U.K.. (Unpublished)

and Hutchings, Kimberly (2008) In: Dialogues; 14 Feb 2008, London, U.K.. (Unpublished)

(2008) In: 2008 Political Thought Conference (UK); 03 - 05 Jan 2008, Oxford, U.K.. (Unpublished)

(2007) In: Materials and materialisms; 12 May 2007, London, U.K.. (Unpublished)

(2004) In: The pyschoanalytical ontology of the human; 20 - 21 Jan 2004, London, U.K.. (Unpublished)

(2002) In: Interdisciplinary seminar series; 30 Oct 2002, Hong Kong, China. (Unpublished)

This list was generated on Sun May 19 06:38:34 2024 BST.