Purpose of the lecture series
DEPE lectures introduce novel ways of thinking about the history of political and economic thought. They situate political and economic thought in broader cultural, political and intellectual settings, hence going beyond standard canonical histories that have dominated these fields for too long. In addition, the DEPE lectures explore the possibilities of combining the study of history of political thought and the history of economic thought.
About the lecture
Jonas Gerlings's lecture demonstrates that Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht (1718-1763), an early feminist, does not only argue for the rights and equality of women, but also that the improvement of women’s rights, such as the right to education and to hold office, is equally beneficial to society.
About the lecturer
Jonas Gerlings is an intellectual historian specialising in the long eighteenth century. He has a particular interest in the Baltic Sea region and its global context. After defending his PhD at the European University Institute in Florence in 2017, he held positions at the University of Copenhagen (2016–2017) and the University of Göttingen (2021–2024). He has also been a visiting researcher at the University of Edinburgh, Uppsala University, the Göttingen Institute for Advanced Studies and the Danish Academy in Rome. From 2022 to 2023, he was a visiting senior research associate at the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society at the University of Chicago. His research has been supported by grants from Horizon Europe (Marie Curie Global Fellow) and the Danish Council for Independent Research (Mobilex). He has published work in various fields within Enlightenment studies, ranging from natural history and earth science to political economy and forensic psychiatry. He is currently working on notions of race and Blackness, as well as political theories of abolitionism in the long eighteenth century.
