Core Faculty

Jennifer Purvis, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Women's Studies

Jennifer Purvis is an Associate Professor of Feminist Theory and Philosophy in the Women's Studies Department at the University of Alabama where she has been a core faculty member since the fall of 2002. She graduated in August 2002 with a Ph.D. from Purdue University's Joint Doctoral Program in English and Philosophy and a Graduate Minor in Women's Studies. Her research investigates the relationship of French and psychoanalytic feminist theory—especially the writings of Simone de Beauvoir, Luce Irigaray, and Julia Kristeva—to the philosophies of Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche. Dr. Purvis teaches Feminist Theory and Contemporary Feminism, including Gender and Queer Theory, Feminist Theories of the Body, and Third Wave/Intergenerational Feminisms. Her other areas of expertise include Feminist Philosophy, Social and Political Theory, and 19th Century to Contemporary Continental Philosophy. Purvis is currently working on the topic of queer feminist futurity and other modalities of temporality, corporeality, and revolt across feminist “generations.” This scholarly interest began with her treatment of alternative temporalities and the notion of intergenerational feminisms in the National Women's Studies Association Journal in the fall of 2004 in “Grrrls and Women Together in the Third Wave: Embracing the Challenges of Intergenerational Feminism(s).” Other scholarly publications include “Hegelian Dimensions of The Second Sex: A Feminist Consideration,” “Irigaray’s (Marxist) Placental Economy: Corporeal Paradigms and the Destabilization of Domination,” “Generations of Antigone: An Intra-Feminist Dialogue with Beauvoir, Irigaray, and Butler,” and “A ‘Time’ for Change: Negotiating the Space of a Third Wave Political Moment.” Forthcoming publications include a book chapter on the concept of “queer” in the field of Women’s Studies and articles concerning the persistent feminist return to Antigone and the stubborn hold of reproductive logics in culture, as well as in feminism and queer theory. She is also working on a book-length manuscript.

jpurvis@ua.edu | Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

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