Olivia Custer

Olivia Custer is a Lecturer in the Department of Comparative Literature, English, and Creative Writing at the American University of Paris (AUP), joining in Fall 2023. Prior to AUP, she taught philosophy, critical theory, human rights, and literature at Bard College and the University of California at Berkeley in France and the US.

• Education: B.A. from Harvard College (1988), D.E.A. from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (E.H.E.S.S.) (1991), and Doctorat from E.H.E.S.S. (2005).

Her research focuses on reinterpreting Immanuel Kant’s philosophical legacy within the context of Enlightenment’s modern consequences. She examines Kant’s influence on contemporary moral and political philosophy, particularly through the works of Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault, while addressing gaps in Kantian theories of subjectivity related to sexual politics and human-animal dynamics.