In memory of Gillian Howie
Our colleague Gill Howie died on March 26, 2013. Her most influential work was in feminist philosophy, especially the intersections between Feminism, Marxism and Critical Theory. She published widely and edited a number of collections in these areas, including the widely read Third Wave Feminism: a Critical Exploration. She was series editor of the Palgrave series Breaking Feminist Waves, and recently published Between Feminism and Materialism: A Question of Method (2010).
Gill’s philosophical work grew out of her commitment to social and political activism. She served on the national executive committee of the AUT as well as of the British Philosophical Association and the Society for Women in Philosophy. She was a conscientious and approachable Head of Philosophy, who cared deeply for the health and vigour of the Department. Gill will be very much missed by her colleagues and students.
Establishing cross-disciplinary connections had long been a passion of Gill’s. More recently and in the light of her own experience of a long struggle with illness she led a number of interdisciplinary research projects aimed at exploring the philosophical significance of life-limiting illness. That she was unable to complete these projects adds to the sense of tragic untimeliness of her death. Typical of these was the only recently established New Thinking on Living with Dying interdisciplinary network.
Gill and other participants of the Thinking About Dying? workshop, held in the Foresight Centre, University of Liverpool, 29 June, 2012
"The School of the Arts shares with our colleagues in Philosophy a deep sense of loss at the death of Professor Gill Howie. Gill was an indefatigable advocate of her discipline and department who also understood the role that Philosophy could and should play in the School more broadly. Gill’s humour, clarity and generosity of spirit were very important in the development of a spirit of shared enterprise, and she exemplified the interdisciplinary commitment, in teaching and research, that is our best hope of fulfilling our ambitions. Her intelligence will be much missed."
Professor Mark Peel - Head of the School of the Arts
The Guardian have published an obiturary of Gill by Jon Harris;
A list of Gill's recent publications can be found here.