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Alex Wardrop

MLitt in Classics

Research Interests

My research centres around two (moving) points; feminist philosophy (particularly within the continental tradition) and Plato’s Timaeus-Critias. I both look at “receptions” of that dialogue within contemporary feminist works, and use feminist epistemologies to re-address the complex issues surrounding “place” (chora) within the dialogue; through which the process of “reception” becomes something more em-bodied and problematic than the word suggests. This work is allowing me to hear voices outside the place of Classics, whether ancient philosophy or feminist poetics, challenging the “propriety” of the academic process and giving space for other voices to be heard—continuing dialogues, and opening towards others.

I have (too) many other interests- the presence of unstable topographies in (ancient) literature, and environmental abjection, the backgrounds of Plato’s dialogues, traditions and representations of Platonic erotics, receptions of pre-Socratic philosophy within feminist thought, tropes of 20^th century feminism, the political place of philosophy within antiquity, addressing the problematic relationship “feminism” has with itself and crucially its traditions, questioning pervasive narratives of rape and survival (from antiquity to now...), and campaigning against rape and sexual violence.

My interests in feminism, representation, and tradition prompted me and some friends to establish the Paperwomen Project, which sets out (non-academically) to celebrate the women of Bristol’s past (and present)  http://paperwomen.blogspot.com/

Papers given

• “But that’s not why you fell in love in the first place: the honeyed drag of theory: Cixous, O’Hara and Lucretius” at the Eighth BIRTHA Postgraduate Conference – What we do, and why: interpretation and methodology in Classics, Bristol, 9^th September 2009.
• “The Atopic Airs (heirs?) of Plato’s Phaedrus; philosophy, interrupted” at Worlds Built out of Words: Literary Environments, Bristol, 28^th April 2010.
• “The Scene-that-Remains: Cixous’ present to Plato’s Yesterday” at Reception and the Gift of Beauty, Bristol 8-9^th July 2010

Awards and Scholarships

• 2008-2009 AHRC studentship for MA (dissertation title “Breath of Eros: Plato’s Phaedrus and feminist process)
• 2009-2012 AHRC award for PhD (“Feminist Critique of Plato’s Timaeus-Critias: re-thinking chora)

Postgraduate Teaching Assistant

• 2010 History of Thought (CLAS12366/22366) with Dr Kurt Lampe: I helped compile a bibliography, led a key seminar on space, place, and feminism within the Timaeus-Critias, gave a lecture on Cicero’s de Officiis and the political place of philosophy, marked first year essays, and supported undergraduates to develop their thoughts around the complex issues.