Anna Argirò

Anna Argirò

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Academia

Research project: Rethinking Birth and Maternity as Philosophical Categories: Hannah Arendt's Notion of Natality in Dialogue with Contemporary Feminist Thought

Abstract

My project aims to underline the limits of the revival of the question of death in twentieth-century European philosophy by rethinking "birth" and "maternity" as philosophical categories. I propose to do this by developing Hannah Arendt's notion of natality with further resources from contemporary feminist thought.  Since ancient Greece, mortality was conceived as a constitutive part of human existence and became a central category of Western philosophical thought. Contemporary continental philosophers such as Heidegger, Levinas and Derrida foregrounded this ancient assumption, offering different interpretations of death. In this context, Hannah Arendt proposes the alternative paradigm of ‘natality'. She interprets the meaning of birth in terms of ‘initiative', attending to the bodily and plural reality of human existence. Arendt's proposed shift paved the way for a new feminist philosophical current concentrating on the analysis of the notions of gender, birth and maternity, most notably in the work of Cavarero, Irigaray, Kristeva, Ruddick, and Duden.  My work investigates why, despite the success of these feminist positions, there is still a tendency to reject birth and maternity as specifically philosophical categories. How is this rejection connected to the twentieth century's revival of the question of death and with an uncritical sexual differentiation of humankind? What challenge may the categories of birth and maternity pose to the Western philosophical tradition?  My research addresses these questions by interpreting birth and maternity not as mere natural events, restricted in time and linked to an uncritical vision of femininity, but as authentic existential possibilities, to be elevated to philosophical categories. It investigates how birth and maternally oriented philosophical thought may challenge traditional philosophical and political categories, such as the notions of autonomy, freedom, and sovereignty and will develop a philosophical approach that allows us to focus on the interdependence and the relationality of the human condition.

  • Research degree: PhD
  • Title of project: Rethinking Birth and Maternity as Philosophical Categories: Hannah Arendt's Notion of Natality in Dialogue with Contemporary Feminist Thought
  • Research supervisor: Professor Stella Sandford
  • Other research supervisor: Professor Peter Osborne

Biography

In 2016, I obtained a BA in Philosophy from La Sapienza University of Rome, where I also completed my MA studies in Philosophy (2018). Since September 2020 I have been a Ph.D. candidate at the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP). In the second year of my Ph.D., I spent three months at the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College, NY as a visiting scholar. At Kingston University, I am also a member of the Race/Gender Matters research group. My research interests include contemporary continental philosophy and feminist theory with a focus on the issues of birth and maternity.

ORCID: 0000-0003-0002-0979

Areas of research interest

  • Contemporary continental philosophy
  • Hannah Arendt
  • Feminist theory
  • Adriana Cavarero
  • Philosophy of sex and gender
  • Martin Heidegger

Qualifications

  • MA in Philosophy, La Sapienza University of Rome, 2018
  • BA in Philosophy, La Sapienza University of Rome, 2016

Funding or awards received

  • Co-organiser Visceral Bodies Symposium, Kingston University, sponsored by Techne, Race/gender matters research group and the Making the Future scheme (2023)
  • Kingston School of Art (KSA) conference grants (2022 ; 2023; 2024)
  • Visiting Fellow at the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College, NY sponsored by the UK Turing Scheme and Techne AHRC Research Training Support Grant (2022)
  • Techne AHRC Fully Funded Studentship (2021-2024)
  • Sapienza University Scholarship Programme "Perfezionamento all'estero" (2020-2021)
  • Sapienza University Student Grant to cover full 3-year B.A. course fees (2013-2016)

Publications

Argirò, A. (2024). Report on the Conference The Politics of Beginnings: Hannah Arendt Today (Anna Argirò). HannahArendt.Net, 13(1), 198–201. https://doi.org/10.57773/hanet.v13i1.548

Argirò, Anna. "Arendt and Natality: Including Maternity in the Discourse around Birth." In HA, The Journal of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities, 11 (2023). (95-110) ISSN (print) 2168-6572

Fedeli S., Argiro A. (2021) Simple Majority. In: Marciano A., Ramello G.B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_441-2

Anna Argiro'. Review of Filippini, Nadia Maria. Generare, Partorire, Nascere: Una Storia Dall'Antichità Alla Provetta. H-Italy, H-Net Reviews. April, 2020. https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55183

Argirò, Anna. "Maternità, relazione, vulnerabilità: Una prospettiva filosofica". In gender/sexuality/italy, 6 (2019). (159-173), https://dx.doi.org/10.15781/r5dr-ra64, http://www.gendersexualityitaly.com/?p=4205

Conference papers

PEER-REVIEWED

  • " ‘We Refugees': Hannah Arendt and Rachel Bespaloff in Exile" with Isabel Jacobs. Exile & Utopia International Symposium, Palazzo Prodi, Trento, Italy, March 13-14, 2024
  • "Rethink Hannah Arendt's Distinction Between Metaphysical and Political Thought Today;" Philosophy and Thinking Differently, Swip-Ireland Annual Conference, Maynooth University, Ireland, 17-18 Nov 2023
  • "Between Private and Public: Reframing Maternity with Hannah Arendt", Society for European Philosophy (SEP) Annual Conference 2022, Newcastle University Central Campus, Newcastle upon Tyne, 17-19 Aug 2022
  • " Figures of the Other: Cavarero and Levinas on Ethics and Vulnerability" , Society for Italian Philosophy (SIP) Fifth Annual Conference. Preconstituted panel "Inclination, Friendship, Hospitality: Rethinking Ethics with Cavarero" with Nicole Miglio and Willow Verkerk.  Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY(online), Jun 9-11, 2022
  • Selected participant in the OSUN Hannah Arendt Humanities Network (HAHN) Annual Text Seminar, 6-10 Jun 2022, Hudson, NY, U.S. (all costs covered by HAHN)
  • " Cavarero's Inclination: Including Maternity in Hannah Arendt's Category of Natality", International Conference Mimetic Inclinations: Gender, Philosophy, and Politics with Adriana Cavarero, Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven (online), Nov 18-19, 2021.

INVITED

  • Research seminar "Philosophies of Maternity", CRMEP, Kingston University, 4 May 2023
  • Lunchtime Talk "Arendt and Natality: Including Maternity in the Discourse around Birth" hosted by Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities, Bard College, NY, Apr 25, 2022
  • Lecture " Kant, Arendt and Politics" , MA Course "Kant and the Aesthetic Tradition", CRMEP Kingston University London, Professor Stella Sandford, Dec 7, 2021
  • Lecture on Hannah Arendt's "We Refugees," course Mediterranean Crossings: Migration, Integration, And Social Unrest-Professor Erica Moretti, Fashion Institute of Technology- SUNY (online), 21 Oct 2020

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