My research deals broadly with the early modern history of European political thought, and sits at the intersection of political theory, intellectual history, and feminist theory. I am interested in seeing how historical perspectives can help us think through contemporary political problems or questions, in two ways. First, by reminding us of forgotten, alternative ways of thinking, and second, by showing us what we take for granted in political theory today. In my research, I show why going beyond the canon and taking into account neglected voices in history—in my case, primarily women’s voices—is a promising way of doing this.

I am currently working on two research projects.

The Politics of Ambition
My second book project traces the meaning of ambition in seventeenth-century England, among both male and female thinkers. Ambition has been largely overlooked by both political theorists and historians of political thought. Nonetheless, ambition plays a key role both in political theory today, as well as in the past. As one of the first book-length contextual histories of ambition, The Politics of Ambition aims to shed light on the complicated relationship between ambition, politics, and feminism.

Tory feminism
A third project, co-authored with Mary Jo MacDonald (Jyväskylä), examines the conservative origins of feminism. The seventeenth century saw the emergence of an English articulation of modern feminist ideals. And it was also the first “age of party,” which divided Whigs from Tories along recognisably proto-liberal and conservative lines. Counter to present-day expectations, however, these feminist arguments tended to be articulated not by women aligned with the Whigs, but by authors who openly identified as Tories. Recovering this neglected tradition of Tory feminism unsettles the assumption that feminism and liberalism are natural allies, while also illuminating how women shaped the trajectory of conservative thought and the Tory party.