Jill Locke

Professor Jill Locke came to Gustavus in 2000 and teaches a range of courses in the history of political thought, democratic theory, and feminist theory and is currently Director of the Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies program (through 2021). During the 2020-2021 academic year, Professor Locke's courses include: Political and Legal Thinking (POL 160) (fall); Sex, Power, and Politics (POL/GWS 285) (fall); Living a Feminist Life (GWS 380: Colloquium/Capstone) (fall); Revolting Children (POL 399: Sr Seminar) (spring); and The Politics of Race & Racism (POL 275) (spring).

In addition to articles and essays in democratic and feminist theory, Professor Locke is also the author of Democracy and the Death of Shame: Political Equality and Social Disturbance (Cambridge University Press, 2016) and co-editor of Feminist Interpretations of Alexis de Tocqueville (Penn State University Press, 2008). She has presented her work on shame and shamelessness at universities and colleges throughout the US and Europe, specifically the University of Amsterdam, University of Jyväskylä (Finland), University of Oslo, University of Southern Denmark, University of Vienna, London School of Economics, Macalester College, and Minnesota State University (Mankato, MN). 

Professor Locke's work has figured prominently in Scandinavian teaching and research on literature, affect, and democratizing processes since the publication of Democracy and the Death of Shame in 2016. During the 2021-2022 academic year, she will return to the University of Oslo for two lectures organized by the Nordic Literary Studies in Flux research group, which focuses on cultural encounters (multiculturalism, racism, immigration, marginalization) and changing conceptions of Nordic identity. They work in an overall context of Scandinavian literature and related fields such as education, film and media, sociology, and philosophy.

Professor Locke is currently working on a new project, tentatively titled Revolting Girls: From Little Rock to the Climate Strike, about youth activism and the ways in which the figure of the "the girl" circulates in both political theory and activist politics. She has had the opportunity to share that work with colleagues at McMaster University (Canada) and the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and will lecture from this project is Oslo next year. 

Professor Locke has held fellowships from the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation (1999-2000), the Center for Ethics and Public Affairs at Tulane University (2006-07), and the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, where she participated in Professor Danielle Allen's Egalitarianisms seminar (2014-15). Professor Locke won the 2017 Gustavus Adolphus College award for Faculty Scholarly Accomplishment and plans to be on sabbatical AY 2021-2022.

Professor Locke can often be found out for a long run with Piper, her hyperactive dog, or curled up with a novel. Originally from Seattle, she has fully embraced the pleasures of Minnesota  -- winters and all. 

Courses Taught