E. van den Wildenberg MA (Esmée)

Esmée van den Wildenberg obtained her research master’s degree in Philosophy (Metaphysics and Epistemology) from Radboud University in 2021. Her master’s thesis focused on the notion of Mitsein in Simone de Beauvoir’s existentialist ethics. She also holds a master’s degree in Gender Studies from Utrecht University. In this master’s thesis she developed a feminist critique on the notion of ‘neutrality’ in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs vs. Women’s Health Organization (2022).

Esmée is currently a PhD student at KU Leuven's Institute of Philosophy and Radboud University. Her doctoral project focuses on the notions of freedom and agency in different strands of contemporary feminist theory, with a specific focus on the Me Too movement. While freedom and agency are often interpreted as competing concepts, this projects puts forward the idea that freedom and agency are complementary concepts, referring to different dimensions of political action. Against this background, the project develops a rereading of Simone de Beauvoir’s notion of situated freedom in light of Judith Butler and Rosi Braidotti’s theories on agency.