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:
"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."
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).
Journal Article: Fast Politics - Slow Philosophy
Boulous Walker, Michelle (2017) Fast Politics - Slow Philosophy. The Philosophers' Magazine, 79: 38-43. doi:10.5840/tpm201779105
Book: Slow Philosophy: Reading Against the Institution
Walker, Michelle Boulous Slow Philosophy: Reading Against the Institution 1st ed. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.
Journal Article: Philosophy and judgement: listening to Max Deutscher
Boulous Walker, Michelle (2016) Philosophy and judgement: listening to Max Deutscher. Parrhesia, 26 40-51.
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
Book Chapter: Becoming slow: Philosophy, reading and the essay
Walker, Michelle Boulous (2011). Becoming slow: Philosophy, reading and the essay. In Graham Oppy and N. N. Trakakis (Ed.), The Antipodean philosopher: public lectures on philosophy in Australia and New Zealand (pp. 268-278) Lanham, MD, U.S.A.: Lexington Books.
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
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
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.
Book: Philosophy and the Maternal Body: Reading silence
Boulous Walker, Michelle Philosophy and the Maternal Body: Reading silence. London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998.
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
MUMBLE, ABYSS: Ontology, Time, and Meaning between Merleau-Ponty and Deleuze
Master Philosophy
A philosophical enquiry into self destruction
Doctor Philosophy
At the Heart of Education: Biesta, Irigaray and the Educational Relationship
Doctor Philosophy
Fast Politics - Slow Philosophy
Boulous Walker, Michelle (2017) Fast Politics - Slow Philosophy. The Philosophers' Magazine, 79: 38-43. doi:10.5840/tpm201779105
Slow Philosophy: Reading Against the Institution
Walker, Michelle Boulous Slow Philosophy: Reading Against the Institution 1st ed. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.
Philosophy and judgement: listening to Max Deutscher
Boulous Walker, Michelle (2016) Philosophy and judgement: listening to Max Deutscher. Parrhesia, 26 40-51.
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
Becoming slow: Philosophy, reading and the essay
Walker, Michelle Boulous (2011). Becoming slow: Philosophy, reading and the essay. In Graham Oppy and N. N. Trakakis (Ed.), The Antipodean philosopher: public lectures on philosophy in Australia and New Zealand (pp. 268-278) Lanham, MD, U.S.A.: Lexington Books.
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
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
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.
Philosophy and the Maternal Body: Reading silence
Boulous Walker, Michelle Philosophy and the Maternal Body: Reading silence. London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998.
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
Slow Philosophy: Reading Against the Institution
Walker, Michelle Boulous Slow Philosophy: Reading Against the Institution 1st ed. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.
Adriane Little: Call home mothers dead
Walker, Michelle Boulous and Little, Adriane Adriane Little: Call home mothers dead. Buffalo, NY, U.S.A.: Big Orbit Gallery, 2005.
Philosophy and the Maternal Body: Reading silence
Boulous Walker, Michelle Philosophy and the Maternal Body: Reading silence. London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998.
Performing Sexualities. Edited by Michelle Boulous Walker Brisbane, QLD Australia: Institute of Modern Art, 1994.
Boulous Walker, Michelle (2019). Slow movement. In Ashish Kothari, Ariel Salleh, Arturo Escobar, Federico Demaria and Alberto Acosta (Ed.), Pluriverse: a post-development dictionary (pp. 305-308) New Delhi, India: Tulika Books.
'Situating the essay: between philosophy and literature?'
Boulous Walker, Michelle (2018). 'Situating the essay: between philosophy and literature?'. In Barry Stocker and Michael Mack (Ed.), The Palgrave handbook of philosophy and literature (pp. 61-79) London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-54794-1_3
Becoming slow: Philosophy, reading and the essay
Walker, Michelle Boulous (2011). Becoming slow: Philosophy, reading and the essay. In Graham Oppy and N. N. Trakakis (Ed.), The Antipodean philosopher: public lectures on philosophy in Australia and New Zealand (pp. 268-278) Lanham, MD, U.S.A.: Lexington Books.
Walker, M. A. (2000). Bringing Le Doeuff home. In Max Deutscher (Ed.), Michele Le Doeuff: Operative Philosophy and Imaginary Practice 1st ed. (pp. 163-186) Amherst, New York: Humanity Books.
Wonder: Coupling Art with Sexual Difference
Boulous Walker, Michelle (1998). Wonder: Coupling Art with Sexual Difference. In Judith Wright (Ed.), Veil : installations, books and video walks : Judith Wright (pp. 44-47) Brisbane, QLD Australia: Institute of Modern Art.
Reflections on the Pre-Reflected: The Blue Room of Humanity
Boulous Walker, Michelle (1997). Reflections on the Pre-Reflected: The Blue Room of Humanity. In Franz Ehmann (Ed.), The Blue Room of Humanity (pp. 28-36) Brisbane, QLD Australia: Institute of Modern Art.
Walker, Michelle (1994). Introduction. In Michelle Boulous Walker (Ed.), Performing Sexualities (pp. iv-v) Brisbane, QLD Australia: Institute of Modern Art.
Performing Desire: Duras in Silence
Walker, Michelle (1994). Performing Desire: Duras in Silence. In Michelle Boulous Walker (Ed.), Performing Sexualities (pp. 11-22) Brisbane, QLD Australia: Institute of Modern Art.
Reason, identity and the body: reading Adorno with Irigaray
Walker, Michelle (1993). Reason, identity and the body: reading Adorno with Irigaray. In Dieter Freundlieb and Wayne Hudson (Ed.), Reason and its other : rationalty in modern German philosophy and culture (pp. 199-216) Providence, RI United States: Berg.
Walker, Michelle (1993). The Aesthetics of Detail. In Wayne Hudson (Ed.), Aesthetics after Historicism (pp. 79-91) Fortitude Valley, Qld Australia: Institute of Modern Art.
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
Walter Benjamin: the art of critical thought
Boulous Walker, Michelle (2019) Walter Benjamin: the art of critical thought. Schwarz-auf-Weiss, 367 1-13.
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.
1968 and The Paradox of Freedom
Boulous Walker, Michelle (2018) 1968 and The Paradox of Freedom. Counterculture Studies, 64-73. doi:10.14453/ccs.v1.i1.6
Fast Politics - Slow Philosophy
Boulous Walker, Michelle (2017) Fast Politics - Slow Philosophy. The Philosophers' Magazine, 79: 38-43. doi:10.5840/tpm201779105
Walker, Michelle Boulous (2017) Fast Politics - Slow Philosophy Michelle Boulous Walker argues that unhurried thinking might be the antidote we need. The Philosophers' Magazine, 79: 38-43.
Philosophy and judgement: listening to Max Deutscher
Boulous Walker, Michelle (2016) Philosophy and judgement: listening to Max Deutscher. Parrhesia, 26 40-51.
Desire, vulnerability, approach: the work of Judith Wright
Boulous Walker, Michelle (2015) Desire, vulnerability, approach: the work of Judith Wright. Eyeline, 84 62-65.
Boulous Walker, Michelle (2014) Slow reading. Island, 137 40-41.
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
Gender, Class, and Freedom in Modern Political Theory. By Nancy J. Hirschmann
Boulous Walker, Michelle (2010) Gender, Class, and Freedom in Modern Political Theory. By Nancy J. Hirschmann. Hypatia, 25 2: 472-476. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.2009.01072a.x
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
Walker, Michelle Boulous and Trakakis, Nick (2010) We're not the only ones. Slow, 2 4: 118-119.
Responsibility, giving and maternal work
Walker, Michelle Boulous (2009) Responsibility, giving and maternal work. Australian Feminist Studies, 24 61: 373-375. doi:10.1080/08164640903108569
Responsibility, giving and maternal work
Walker, Michelle Boulous (2009) Responsibility, giving and maternal work. Australian Feminist Studies, 24 61: 373-375. doi:10.1080/08164640903108569
The gift of the other: Levinas and the politics of reproduction
Walker, Michelle Boulous (2009) The gift of the other: Levinas and the politics of reproduction. Australian Feminist Studies, 24 61: 373-375. doi:10.1080/08164640903108569
Writing couples: reading Deutscher on Sartre and Beauvoir
Walker, Michelle Boulous (2009) Writing couples: reading Deutscher on Sartre and Beauvoir. Crossroads: an interdisciplinary journal for the study of history, philosophy, religion and classics , IV I: 45-52.
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
Review of 'Environmental culture: The ecological crisis of reason'
Walker, M. B. (2004) Review of 'Environmental culture: The ecological crisis of reason'. Australian Feminist Studies, 19 44: 255-257.
Walker, M. B. (2003) Review Article: Ajzenstat, O., 'Driven Back to the Text: The Premodern Sources of Levinas's Postmodernism'. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 77 1: 133-137. doi:10.5840/acpq20037717
Walker, M. A. (2003) Review of Contemporary French Philosophy: Modernity and the persistence of the subject by Caroline Williams. Political Studies Review, 1 3: 370-371.
Eating ethically: Emmanuel Levinas and Simone Weil
Walker M.B. (2002) Eating ethically: Emmanuel Levinas and Simone Weil. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 76 2: 295-320. doi:10.5840/acpq200276245
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.
Feminist amnesia: the wake of women's liberation
Walker, M. B. (1998) Feminist amnesia: the wake of women's liberation. Australian Feminist Studies, 13 28: 366-367.
Imaginary bodies: Ethics, power and corporeality
Walker, M. B. (1998) Imaginary bodies: Ethics, power and corporeality. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 76 2: 335-337.
In Memory of Lyotard: the differend
Boulous Walker, Michelle (1998) In Memory of Lyotard: the differend. Virtuosity, .
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
HISTORY AFTER LACAN - BRENNAN,T
WALKER, MB (1995) HISTORY AFTER LACAN - BRENNAN,T. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 73 4: 632-635.
Brennan, T., History After Lacan
Boulous Walker, Michelle (1995) Brennan, T., History After Lacan. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 73 4: 632-635. doi:10.1080/00048409512346991
Silence and reason: woman's voice in philosophy
Walker, Michelle (1993) Silence and reason: woman's voice in philosophy. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 71 4: 400-424. doi:10.1080/00048409312345412
Feminism and the humanities: Enrichment, expansion or challenge? Speaking from where, to whom?
Walker, Michelle (1986) Feminism and the humanities: Enrichment, expansion or challenge? Speaking from where, to whom?. Australian Feminist Studies, 1 3: 106-109. doi:10.1080/08164649.1986.9961521
Reproduction: Feminist footnote to Marxist text?
Walker, Michelle (1986) Reproduction: Feminist footnote to Marxist text?. Arena: a Marxist Journal of Criticism and Discussion, 1 77: 155-166.
Boulous Walker, Michelle (1996) Finding fault. Brisbane, QLD, Australia, Institute of Modern Art.
Philosophy and silence : reading the maternal body
Walker, Michelle Boulous (1996). Philosophy and silence : reading the maternal body PhD Thesis, School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies, The University of Queensland.
Note for students: Associate Professor Michelle Boulous Walker is not currently available to take on new students.
MUMBLE, ABYSS: Ontology, Time, and Meaning between Merleau-Ponty and Deleuze
Master Philosophy — Principal Advisor
A philosophical enquiry into self destruction
Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
At the Heart of Education: Biesta, Irigaray and the Educational Relationship
Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
Irigaray and citizenship
Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
Work in Progress - the phenomenology of work
Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Risk, Violence and Subjectivity: A Beauvoirian Critique
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
'Life' in Medias Res: Irony, Tragedy and 'The Eternal Feminine' in the works of Friedrich Nietzsche.
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
After Misology: Speculations on Kant, Heidegger, and Deleuze.
(2018) Master Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
(2018) Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
Dancing on the Tightrope of Existence: Deconstructing Black Consciousness
(2017) Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
An Alchemy of Radical Love: Luce Irigaray's Ontology of Sexuate Difference
(2015) Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
Heidegger's Philosophy of Disclosedness: a Relational Interpretation of Being and Time
(2014) Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
Open-endedness: Towards An Encounter With Alterity
(2013) Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
A Philosophical Investigation of Entertainment
(2012) Master Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
The role of askesis in the life and work of Albert Camus
(2011) Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
ENLIGHTENMENT BETWEEN TWO: Luce Irigaray, sexual difference and nondual oneness
(2008) Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
RE-EVALUATING HEGEL: FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES ON ETHICS, OTHERNESS AND LOVE
() Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
'O MOTHER WHERE ART THOU?' AN IRIGARAYAN READING OF THE BOOK OF CHRONICLES
(2006) Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
EATING THE OTHER: LEVINAS'S ETHICAL ENCOUNTER
(2005) Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
(2019) Master Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
Nietzsche and the Psychic Mechanism of Debt: The Ancestral Fiction That Stalks Us
(2018) Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
Accommodating thrown-being in the world
(2016) Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
Responding to the Other: Derrida, Habermas and the Transformation of Reason and the Political
(2014) Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
Evil: From the Banal to the Radical
(2008) Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
THE MORAL LIMITS OF VIOLENCE, WAR & REVOLUTION: A SARTREAN ANALYSIS AND RESPONSE
(2008) Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
BEYOND ALETHIA: A CRITIQUE OF HEIDEGGERIAN EINAIOLOGY
(2006) Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
NIHILISM IN POSTMODERNITY
(2006) Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
The myth of reason: a study of Jurgen Habermans' theory of communicative action
() Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors: