University of Gothenburg
University of Gothenburg
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  4. Cecilia Rosengren

Cecilia Rosengren

Senior Lecturer

Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and
Religion
Telephone
+46 31-786 42 96
+46 766-18 42 96
Mail
cecilia.rosengren@lir.gu.se
Visiting address
Renströmsgatan 6
41255 Göteborg
Room number
J663
Postal address
Box 200
40530 Göteborg

About Cecilia Rosengren

Key words

Women Philosophers; Early Modern Cultural History; Natural philosophy; Environmental history; Baroque; Gender; Canon and History of Philosophy; History of the Swedish Public Sphere; History of the Press

Research

My research interests lie within the history of philosophy, with a focus on gender issues, problems of canonical thinking and Early Modern cultural and environmental history. I have written several articles on the Early Modern women philosophers Margaret Cavendish and Anne Conway. In 2009 I published a monograph on the English seventeenth century philosopher Anne Conway, Conway – Naturfilosofi och kvinnliga tänkare i barockens tidevarv (2009). Work in progress: (1) the rhetorical strategies in Orations of divers sorts (1662) by Margaret Cavendish, including re-thinking the history of political ideas; (2) happiness and suffering in the writings of the Margaret Cavendish, Anne Conway, and Émelie du Châtelet; (3) experiences and conceptions of cold, snow and ice of the north during the little ice age.

I have also conducted research on Swedish topics, such as the changes of the public sphere in early nineteenth century Sweden and the debate surrounding the newly born modern political press. My PhD (1999) investigated the controversy between government-friendly forces and the oppositional voices of the public sphere in the age of Charles XIV John: Tidevarvets bättre genius. Föreställningar om offentlighet och publicitet i Karl Johanstidens Sverige (1999). Pursuing the topics dealt with in my doctoral thesis, I have participated in an interdisciplinary research project aimed at studying the strategies in different media to legitimize and popularize the up-start Bernadotte dynasty, from 1810 to 1844. The project has resulted in both an English and a Swedish anthology: Scripts of Kingship. Essays on Bernadotte and Dynastic Formation in the Age of Revolution (2009) and En dynasti blir till. Medier, myter och makt kring Karl XIV Johan och familjen Bernadotte (2010). I wrote a chapter about the big controversy on publicity in Parliament 1800 in a book on the Swedish Freedom of the Press Act from 1766 and its history, published by the Swedish Riksdag for the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the Act in 2016.

The academic year 2002-2003: visiting scholar at Centre Alexandre Koyré, EHESS in Paris, France. February - June 2015: visiting scholar at Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The autumn term 2018: visiting scholar at the department of History of Ideas and Science, Uppsala University. 2007–2011: member of the editorial board of Lychnos. Annual of the Swedish History of Science Society. Since 2007: 2007– active member of the steering group of The Early Modern Seminar at the Faculty of Arts, GU: 2018– chair of the research network The Swedish Baroque Academy (Barockakademien).

Teaching

Since my time as PhD-student I have been lecturing in the history of ideas and science – teaching introductory to in-depth courses on the history of political ideas and the history of aesthetics, science and philosophy from Antiquity to our times. I supervise both bachelor and doctoral level students. During the autumn term 2011 I was STINT fellow and visiting professor at Williams College, Massachusetts, USA, as part of the STINT (The Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education) programme Excellence in Teaching.

Administration

Between 2003 and 2006 I served as director of studies at the department of History of Ideas and Science. In January 2009 I became Deputy Head of The Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion, and Associate Head of Education, a position I upheld until June 2011. January 2012 – June 2012 I functioned as Associate Head of Doctoral Studies. July 2012 - June 2018 I was Head of Department. Currently chair of the collegium of history of ideas- and science.