Associate Professor Michelle Boulous Walker
Associate Professor

Michelle Boulous Walker

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+61 7 336 52616

Background

Dr. Michelle BOULOUS WALKER's research interests span the fields of European philosophy, aesthetics, ethics, and feminist philosophy. Her teaching interests in philosophy include intersections with politics, film, and literature. Her recent research in Slow Philosophy engages with the work of Emmanuel Levinas, Theodore W. Adorno, Luce Irigraray, Michèle Le Doeuff, and others. A new project focuses on questions of philosophy and the politics of laughter.

Her other activities include:

  • Head: European Philosophy Research Group (EPRG) affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH).

"Both my teaching and research focus on the practice of philosophy – its historical, disciplinary, and institutional dimensions. I have published two monographs . The first, Philosophy and the Maternal Body: Reading Silence (Routledge: London & New York, 1998), explores the complex exclusions that keep women’s voices silent within the history of Western philosophy. The second, Slow Philosophy: Reading Against the Institution (London & New York: Bloomsbury Academic: 2017), explores the challenge of time pressure on learning, pedagogy, and research in philosophy, and more broadly in the humanities. In these works, I explore the internal threats to philosophy (its blind spots, exclusions, and silences) and it external threats (the demands of the digital age). I am interested to work within the institution of philosophy to engage these challenges. In a series of book chapters and international journal articles I have pursued this ethical examination of philosophy. I inquire into the effect of philosophy’s exclusions in order to make it a more inclusive intellectual domain, and I explore strategies that help philosophers respond more creatively to the pressures of the modern academy. I combine an engagement with the traditional questions and methods of philosophy with an investigation of the implications of these for contemporary issues of human agency and human knowledge."

Availability

Associate Professor Michelle Boulous Walker is:
Not available for supervision
Media expert

Fields of research

Ethical theory Feminist theory Phenomenology Philosophy Philosophy and Religious Studies Psychoanalytic philosophy

Qualifications

  • Bachelor (Honours) of Arts, University of New England Australia
  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland

Research interests

  • Philosophy and Laughter: Ethical, Political, & Pedagogical Dimensions

Research impacts

In response to the publication of Slow Philosophy: Reading Against the Institution (London and New York: Bloomsbury 2017), I have accepted the following invitations to write in public forums for a non-specialist audience:

The Times Higher Education (UK),

The Forum for European Philosophy: Thinking in Public (UK),

The Philosopher’s Magazine (UK), and

RHYSTRANTER.COM – Literature, Philosophy, and the Arts (UK).

Slow Philosophy has been very positively reviewed in review articles in: The LA Review of Books (US), Parrhesia: A Journal of Critical Philosophy (Australia), and Svenska Dagladet (Sweden). I have been interviewed on public radio in the following programmes: ABC Radio National – The Philosopher’s Zone (Australia), Public Radio KZYX – Consider This (US), and Patterson in Pursuit: Philosophy, Politics, Religion (US). Additionally, my book has been the focus of a podcast devoted to applied research at the Bedrosian Center, The University of Southern California School of Policy Development and Public Practice (US).

Search Professor Michelle Boulous Walker’s works on UQ eSpace

57 works between 1986 and 2024
All (57) Journal Article (37) Book Chapter (11) Book (4) Other Outputs (4) Edited Outputs (1)

1 - 20 of 57 works

Featured

2017

Journal Article

Fast Politics - Slow Philosophy

Boulous Walker, Michelle (2017). Fast Politics - Slow Philosophy. The Philosophers' Magazine (79), 38-43. doi: 10.5840/tpm201779105

Fast Politics - Slow Philosophy

Featured

2017

Book

Slow philosophy: reading against the institution

Walker, Michelle Boulous (2017). Slow philosophy: reading against the institution. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic. doi: 10.5040/9781474279949

Slow philosophy: reading against the institution

Featured

2016

Journal Article

Philosophy and judgement: listening to Max Deutscher

Boulous Walker, Michelle (2016). Philosophy and judgement: listening to Max Deutscher. Parrhesia, 26, 40-51.

Philosophy and judgement: listening to Max Deutscher

Featured

2013

Journal Article

Imagining happiness: literature and the essay

Boulous Walker, Michelle (2013). Imagining happiness: literature and the essay. Culture, Theory and Critique, 54 (2), 194-208. doi: 10.1080/14735784.2013.782681

Imagining happiness: literature and the essay

Featured

2011

Book Chapter

Becoming slow: Philosophy, reading and the essay

Walker, Michelle Boulous (2011). Becoming slow: Philosophy, reading and the essay. The Antipodean philosopher: public lectures on philosophy in Australia and New Zealand. (pp. 268-278) edited by Graham Oppy and N. N. Trakakis. Lanham, MD, U.S.A.: Lexington Books.

Becoming slow: Philosophy, reading and the essay

Featured

2010

Journal Article

Love, ethics, and authenticity: Beauvoir's lesson in what it means to read

Walker, Michelle Boulous (2010). Love, ethics, and authenticity: Beauvoir's lesson in what it means to read. Hypatia, 25 (2), 334-356. doi: 10.1111/j.1527-2001.2010.01104.x

Love, ethics, and authenticity: Beauvoir's lesson in what it means to read

Featured

2006

Journal Article

An ethics of reading - Adorno, Levinas, and Irigaray

Walker, M. A. (2006). An ethics of reading - Adorno, Levinas, and Irigaray. Philosophy Today, 50 (2), 223-238. doi: 10.5840/philtoday200650254

An ethics of reading - Adorno, Levinas, and Irigaray

Featured

2002

Journal Article

Eating ethically: Emmanuel Levinas and Simone Weil (Exploring the ethical realms of anorexia and so-called states of grace)

Walker, M. B. (2002). Eating ethically: Emmanuel Levinas and Simone Weil (Exploring the ethical realms of anorexia and so-called states of grace). American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 76 (2), 295-320.

Eating ethically: Emmanuel Levinas and Simone Weil (Exploring the ethical realms of anorexia and so-called states of grace)

Featured

1998

Book

Philosophy and the Maternal Body: Reading silence

Boulous Walker, Michelle (1998). Philosophy and the Maternal Body: Reading silence. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.

Philosophy and the Maternal Body: Reading silence

Featured

1997

Journal Article

A short story about reason - The strange case of Habermas and Poe

Walker, M. B. (1997). A short story about reason - The strange case of Habermas and Poe. Philosophy Today, 41 (3), 432-445. doi: 10.5840/philtoday199741344

A short story about reason - The strange case of Habermas and Poe

2024

Edited Outputs

Humanities Special Issue - Ethics and Literary Practice II: Refugees and Representation

Humanities Special Issue - Ethics and Literary Practice II: Refugees and Representation. (2024).

Humanities Special Issue - Ethics and Literary Practice II: Refugees and Representation

2022

Journal Article

Writing: The question as revolt in Kristeva and Boochani

Walker, Michelle Boulous (2022). Writing: The question as revolt in Kristeva and Boochani. Humanities, 11 (4) 78, 1-14. doi: 10.3390/h11040078

Writing: The question as revolt in Kristeva and Boochani

2022

Journal Article

Nature, obligation, and transcendence: reading Luce Irigaray with Mary Graham

Boulous Walker, Michelle (2022). Nature, obligation, and transcendence: reading Luce Irigaray with Mary Graham. Sophia, 61 (1), 187-201. doi: 10.1007/s11841-022-00907-2

Nature, obligation, and transcendence: reading Luce Irigaray with Mary Graham

2021

Journal Article

The Laughter of Hannah Arendt

Michelle Boulous Walker (2021, 06 20). The Laughter of Hannah Arendt

The Laughter of Hannah Arendt

2020

Journal Article

"Why slow philosophy is the antidote to fast politics"

Boulous Walker, Michelle (2020, 06 09). "Why slow philosophy is the antidote to fast politics" ABC religion and ethics 1-5.

"Why slow philosophy is the antidote to fast politics"

2020

Book Chapter

Affect and porosity: ethics and literature between Teresa Brennan and Hélène Cixous

Boulous Walker, Michelle (2020). Affect and porosity: ethics and literature between Teresa Brennan and Hélène Cixous. Ethics and literary practice. (pp. 171-187) edited by Adam Zachary Newton. Basel, Switzerland: MDPI. doi: 10.3390/books978-3-03928-505-1

Affect and porosity: ethics and literature between Teresa Brennan and Hélène Cixous

2019

Journal Article

Can philosophy, and philosophers survive in the modern university?

Boulous Walker, Michelle (2019, 12 02). Can philosophy, and philosophers survive in the modern university? ABC religion and ethics 1-7.

Can philosophy, and philosophers survive in the modern university?

2019

Journal Article

Affect and porosity: Ethics and literature between Teresa Brennan and Helene Cixous

Boulous Walker, Michelle (2019). Affect and porosity: Ethics and literature between Teresa Brennan and Helene Cixous. Humanities, 8 (4) doi:10.3390/h8040160, 160. doi: 10.3390/h8040160

Affect and porosity: Ethics and literature between Teresa Brennan and Helene Cixous

2019

Journal Article

Walter Benjamin: the art of critical thought

Boulous Walker, Michelle (2019). Walter Benjamin: the art of critical thought. Schwarz-auf-Weiss, 367, 1-13.

Walter Benjamin: the art of critical thought

2019

Journal Article

The fragility of collegiality: 'What remains of me at the university, within the university?'

Boulous Walker, Michelle (2019). The fragility of collegiality: 'What remains of me at the university, within the university?'. Parrhesia: a journal of critical philosophy, 30, 18-28.

The fragility of collegiality: 'What remains of me at the university, within the university?'

Availability

Associate Professor Michelle Boulous Walker is:
Not available for supervision

Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Forest Lovers, Live Forever: Bringing Val Plumwood and Luce Irigaray into dialogue on topics of life, love and death in the age of ecological crisis

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Laura Roberts, Dr Simone Thornton

  • Doctor Philosophy

    The Thread of Deconstruction: Coming to Monique Wittig through Derrida and Cixous

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Marguerite La Caze

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Luce Irigaray and the Salvic Potential of the Horizontal

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Joel Katzav

  • Doctor Philosophy

    A Philosophical Exploration into the Ambiguity of Girlhood Friendship and the Role of Intellectual Exchange

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Marguerite La Caze

Completed supervision

Enquiries

Contact Associate Professor Michelle Boulous Walker directly for media enquiries about:

  • Ethics
  • Feminism
  • Philosophy

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