Professor Barbara TaylorProfessor of HumanitiesEmail: b.g.taylor@qmul.ac.ukProfileResearchPublicationsSupervisionPublic EngagementProfileI came to Queen Mary in 2012 to take up a joint professorship in the Schools of History, and English & Drama. My previous post, which I had held since 1993, was in History at the University of East London. I have also held visiting professors at the universities of Amsterdam, Indiana, Notre Dame, and the École des hautes études en sciences sociales. I am the QMUL Director of the Raphael Samuel History Centre (a partnership between Queen Mary UL, Birkbeck College UL, the University of East London, and Bishopsgate Institute).ResearchResearch Interests: I am an intellectual and cultural historian with a special interest in the subjective dimension of historical change. My early research focused on feminist theory and history: I have published two well-known books on early British feminism, and in the late 1990s I ran a Leverhulme-funded international research project on feminism and Enlightenment. I am the co-convenor of a long-standing seminar at the Institute of Historical Research (link is external) on ‘Psychoanalysis and History’, and have written a personal history of mental health care in the late twentieth century. Theories, Histories and Representations of Subjectivity Enlightenment Studies Psychoanalytic Studies Histories of Solitude Feminist Theory and History Radical Writing in Britain, 1790-1850 Recent and On-Going Research: My current research focuses on selfhood and subjectivity from the mid 17th century to the present. In 2012 I published an edited collection of essays on psychoanalysis and history (History and Psyche: Culture, Psychoanalysis and the Past, co-edited with Sally Alexander), and my most recent book is a memoir-cum-history of the transition from institutional to community-based psychiatric care in late 20th century Britain (The Last Asylum, 2014). At present, I am directing a major research project, ‘Pathologies of Solitude, 18th – 21st C’, and writing a book about solitude in Britain during the long 18th century. PublicationsPublications since 2003 Single-authored books Mary Wollstonecraft and the Feminist Imagination (link is external) (Cambridge University Press, 2003) The Last Asylum (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin (link is external), 2014). Co-authored books On Kindness (link is external) (with Adam Phillips). Penguin, 2009; Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2009. Edited books Women, Gender and Enlightenment, 1650-1850 (link is external) co-edited with Sarah Knott, Palgrave Press, 2005 (pbk 2007). History & Psyche: Culture, Psychoanalysis and the Past (link is external), co-edited with Sally Alexander (Palgrave, 2012) Journal Articles and Book Chapters ‘Mary Wollstonecraft. Sobre mujer y vida pública’ [‘Mary Wollstonecraft on Women and Public Life’], in Rosa Capel (ed) Mujeres para la Historia. Figuras destacadas del primer feminismo (link is external) (Madrid, Abada editors, 2004) ‘Feminists Versus Gallants: Sexual Manners and Morals in Enlightenment Britain’: in Sarah Knott and Barbara Taylor, eds, Women, Gender and Enlightenment, 1650-1850 (link is external) (Palgrave,2005) ‘Separations of Soul: Solitude, Biography, History’, American Historical Review (link is external), 114.3, 2009. ‘Marian Engel’s Bear’, Women: a Cultural Review (link is external), 21.2, 2010. ‘The Demise of the Asylum in Late Twentieth Century Britain’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society (link is external), vol 20, 2011. ‘Enlightenment and the Uses of Woman’, History Workshop Journal (link is external), 74, 2012. ‘Historical Subjectivity’, in Sally Alexander and Barbara Taylor, eds, History and Psyche: Culture, Psychoanalysis, and the Past (link is external) (Palgrave, 2012). 'Mary Wollstonecraft and Modern Philosophy', in S Berges and A Coffee, (eds), The Social and Political Thought of Mary Wollstonecraft, (Oxford University Press, 2016). 'Rousseau and Wollstonecraft. Solitary Walkers', in H Roenblatt and P Schweigert, (eds), Thinking with Rousseau: From Machiavelli to Schmidt, (Cambridge University Press, 2017. 'Philosophical Solitude: David Hume versus Jean-Jacques Rousseau', History Workshop Journal, 89 (2020). 'A Paradoxical Privacy: Solitude and the Inner Voice in the Writings of Denise Riley', Feminist Theory, 21 (3), 2020. Reprints and Translations ‘The Religious Foundations of Mary Wollstonecraft’s Feminism’, in Claudia Johnson, ed, Cambridge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft (link is external) (Cambridge University Press). Reprinted in Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (link is external), Norton Critical Edition (Deidre Lynch, ed), 2009. ‘Mary Wollstonecraft and the Wild Wish of Early Feminism’, History Workshop Journal (link is external), no 33, 1992; and ‘For the Love of God: Religion and the Erotic Imagination in Wollstonecraft’s Feminism’ in E Yeo (ed) Mary Wollstonecraft and 200 Years of Feminisms (link is external) (London, Rivers Oram, 1997), both reprinted in Jane Moore (ed), Mary Wollstonecraft (link is external) (London, Ashgate, 2012). On Kindness (Penguin, 2009): Italian, French, Spanish, German and Brazilian editions (2009-2012). Web articles ‘History Workshop Journal’ (2009): http://www.history.ac.uk/makinghistory/resources/articles/HWJ.html (link is external) ‘History, the Nation and the Schools’ (2011): http://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/history-the-nation-and-the-schools/ (link is external) Supervision I welcome candidates interested in any of my areas of research. Public EngagementSelected Media appearances: BBC Radio 4. Woman’s Hour. Feb 2014. BBC World Service. Newshour. Feb 2014. BBC Radio 4. Today Programme. Feb 2014. BBC Radio 5 Live. Stephen Nolan Programme. Feb 2014. The Last Asylum is BBC Radio 4 ‘Book of the Week’. Feb 2014. Irish Radio. Sean Moncrieff Show on Newstalk. Feb 2014. BBC Radio Scotland. April 2014. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: ‘Sunday Edition’. Interview. Feb 2015. Canada TV AM. Interview. Feb 2015. Late Night Live’ Interview, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. April 2015. Guardian Books Podcast. May 2015. ‘Talking History’, Newstalk Radio (Ireland) November 2017. ‘Anatomy of Loneliness’, BBC Radio 4. 3CR Radio Australia. November 2019. ‘A Short History of Solitude’, BBC Radio 4. Journalism: Review of Sheila Rowbotham, Rebel Crossings, Guardian 25.02.17. Review of Margaret Willes, The Curious World of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn, Guardian, 30 .12.17. Review of Josh Cohen, Not Working, Guardian, 12.1.19. Review of Tessa McWatt, Shame on Me, Guardian, 23.12.19. Review of Sylvana Tomaselli, Wollstonecraft. Philosophy, Passion and Politics. Guardian. 16.12.20. ‘Solitary Citizens: The Politics of Loneliness’, Guardian, 27.06.20. Blogs: ‘Are We More Lonely Than Our Ancestors?’ ‘Robinson Crusoe and the Morality of Solitude’, Wellcome Collection. ‘The Art of Solitude’ ‘Solitude and Covid 19’ (with David Vincent). 'On Wanting to be Andrew Scott's Mother'. Mile End Institute: The Politics of Loneliness in Pandemic Britain’ Queen Mary Digital Lecture Series: People and Pandemics, a Better World?