Research
I am a historian of ideas and a gender studies scholar and my work focuses on feminist philosophy and theory in their historical contexts. I am interested in questions about how notions of gender, time, and history intersect in feminist theory and I have analyzed how feminist thinkers are influenced by and transform modern notions of temporality and change. For example, I have studied the philosophy of time of the French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, demonstrating the presence of existential and phenomenological aspects in her notion of temporality. I have a strong interest in the reception of German philosophy in mid-20th century France and its significance in an American context in the following decades, with a special focus on Judith Butler's influential thinking.
I also have an interest in the history of the women's movements in the Nordic countries and more specifically their knowledge production. In an ongoing project, I examine the view of the relationship between knowledge and politics in the so-called “women's circles” in the independent academic institution Nordic Summer University.
My work has been published in academic journals such as Slagmark, Ideas in History, and NORA and I have also contributed to publications like Glänta, Ord & Bild and Salongen. Together with gender studies scholar Evelina Johansson Wilén, I am the editor of the anthology Vad är en kvinna? Språk, materialitet, situation(Daidalos, 2021). Together with the historians of ideas Synne Myrebøe and Valgerður Pálmadóttir, I coordinated the network Feminist Philosophy: Time, history and the transformation of thought (2017-2019). In 2023, we published an anthology in Södertörn studies in intellectual and cultural history.
Teaching
I currently teach gender studies at the Centre for Gender studies and history of ideas in the Department of Political, Historical, Religious and Cultural Studies.
Selected publications
Sjöstedt, Johanna, ”Framtid eller upprepning? Heidegger och ’ögonblicket’ i Simone de Beauvoirs 1940-talsessäer”, Slagmark no 83 (2) 2021: 57-75.
–––. ”Kritiken mot kritiken – Att utgå från det vardagliga”, Respons 7 (6) 2018: 40-43.
–––. ”Les inséparables”, Ord&Bild, publicerad online 2021-03-16. http://www.tidskriftenordobild.se/ordoblogg/category/kritik-les-insepara...
–––. ”Measuring Identity: Critique and the Notions of Truth and Violence in the Philosophy of Judith Butler”, Ideas in History 9 (1-2) 2015: 107-120.
–––. & Valgerdur Pálmadóttir, ”Nordic Feminism Reconsidered: Activism, scholarly endeavours, and women’s research networks at the Nordic Summer University 1971-1990”, Nora: Nordic Journal on Feminist and Gender research, 30 (1) 2022, DOI: 10.1080/08038740.2021.1973557
–––. ”Vad är en kvinna? Beauvoir och frågans former”, Vad är en kvinna? Språk, materialitet, situation, red. Evelina Johansson Wilén och Johanna Sjöstedt, Göteborg: Daidalos 2021.