Willow Verkerk is a Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia (UBC), within the Faculty of Arts. She specializes in continental philosophy, feminist philosophy, and the history of philosophy, with additional interests in ethics and anti-racist philosophy. Her postdoctoral research (2021–2024) was conducted at KU Leuven’s Gendered Mimesis Project, where she explored critiques of Enlightenment subjectivity through the lenses of Adriana Cavarero, Judith Butler, and Catherine Malabou. This work resulted in a monograph under contract with Cambridge University Press, titled Nietzsche and Women , alongside edited collections, book chapters, and presentations at institutions like Meiji University, Humboldt University Berlin, and the University of Iceland. Verkerk’s research often intersects with themes of friendship, gender, and mimesis, particularly in her analysis of Nietzsche’s ethical frameworks and their implications for contemporary feminist thought. She has contributed to journals such as Critical Horizons , Nietzsche-Studien , and Amity: The Journal of Friendship Studies , and her edited works include Homo Mimeticus III (Leuven University Press, 2024) and a special issue of Critical Horizons on ‘Mimetic Inclinations.’ She has held visiting roles and delivered lectures internationally, including at the School of Materialist Research in London and the University of Winchester. Her current projects emphasize rethinking philosophical legacies and the intersection of ethics with anti-racist and queer perspectives. Teaching focuses on ethics, continental philosophy, and gender theory, with courses like Introduction to Ethics , Sex, Gender and Philosophy , and Power and Oppression . She is also involved in curricular development at UBC and has engaged in public lectures on topics ranging from ‘The Body as Force in Performance Art’ to ‘Nietzsche and the Philosophical Value of Friendship.’
