Annemie Halsema

Annemie Halsema is Socrates Professor of Philosophical Anthropology and the Foundations of Humanism at Leiden University (since 2021) and Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She also serves as Director of the Graduate School of Humanities at VU and Chair of the Netherlands Research School of Gender Studies (NOG).

Research Focus: Her central project, ‘Hermeneutics of the gendered, racialized and ageing body,’ explores how embodied factors such as gender, race, and age shape both personal identity and social signification. Drawing on critical phenomenology, hermeneutics, and feminist philosophy, she examines thinkers like Luce Irigaray, Judith Butler, and Paul Ricoeur.

Key Publications: She authored Luce Irigaray and Horizontal Transcendence (2010) and Dialectiek van de seksuele differentie (1998), and co-edited volumes including Bodies That Still Matter (2021) and Feminist Explorations of Paul Ricoeur’s Philosophy (2016). Recent work includes Purple Brains. Feminisms at the Limits of Philosophy (2024).

Teaching & Leadership: She coordinates the multidisciplinary minor Gender and Diversity, teaches Continental Philosophy and Theorizing Gender and Intersectionality, and leads graduate training at VU.