August 19, 2013: Hannah Arendt and the Question of Feminism

Hannah Arendt, the subject of a new film by Margarethe von Trotta, did not consider herself a feminist and never wrote about the women's movement, although she did write about other social movements of the sixties and seventies. Nevertheless, generations of women have combed her work for feminist implications. Why are feminists so fascinated with Arendt, and what does her work bring to our understanding of feminism?

Kate Raphael discusses this question with Linda Zerilli, Professor of Political Science and outgoing Director of the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at the University of Chicago.  Zerilli is the author of Feminism and the Abyss of Freedom, one of many books interpreting Arendt's work through the lens of feminism.

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