PhD (Oxon)
MA (Flinders)
BA Hons (Flinders)
BA (Flinders)
Vicki Spencer is an Associate Professor of political theory. Previously she taught at the University of Adelaide and Flinders University of South Australia. She is the author of Herder’s Political Thought: A Study of Language, Culture, and Community (University of Toronto Press, 2012), and the co-editor of Visions of Peace: Asia and the West with Takashi Shogimen (Ashgate, 2014), Disclosures with Paul Corcoran (Ashgate, 2000), and a special edition of The Australian Journal of Politics and History: Rethinking Nationalism. Her research encompasses seventeenth and eighteenth-century European thought and contemporary political theory with a focus on culture, identity and the concepts of recognition and toleration.
Her most recent book is a collected edition, Toleration in Comparative Perspective (Lexington, 2017), which disrupts the assumption in Western political discourse that toleration is a uniquely Western idea by examining comparable ideas in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism.
She has supervised PhDs, Masters and Honours dissertations on a wide range of topics including models of heroic thought, hermeneutics, religious toleration, models of forgiveness in transitional societies, democratic free schools, Nietzsche and Hannah Arendt. Her teaching interests traverse both contemporary political theory and the history of modern political thought and she is happy to supervise students in applied theory.
Teaching
- POLS202 Theories of Justice
- POLS301 Power and Liberty
- POLS501 "The Political": Theory and Practice
- POLS402/POLS510 Community, Culture and Rights
- POLS590/591 MPols Dissertation
Contact details
Room 4S3, 4th floor, Arts (Burns) Building
Tel +64 3 479 9615
Email vicki.spencer@otago.ac.nz
Office hours – Tuesday 3:00 to 4:00pm or by appointment
Links
| New Zealand Political Studies Association | |
 | Herder's Political Thought: A Study on Language, Culture and Community ISBN: 978-1442643024 |
 | Visions of Peace: Asia and The West ISBN: 9781138269965 |
 | Toleration in Comparative Perspective ISBN: 978-1-4985-3017-0 |
Publications
Spencer, V. A. (2012). Herder's political thought: A study of language, culture, and community. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 354p.
Spencer, V. A. (Ed.). (2018). Toleration in comparative perspective. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 282p.
Shogimen, T., & Spencer, V. A. (Eds.). (2014). Visions of peace: Asia and the West. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 195p.
Spencer, V. A. (2015). Kant and Herder on colonialism, indigenous peoples, and minority nations. International Theory, 7(2), 360-392. doi: 10.1017/S1752971915000032
Spencer, V. A. (2018). “Communitarianism” and patriotism. In M. Sardoč (Ed.), Handbook of patriotism. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-30534-9_33-1
Authored Book - Research
Spencer, V. A. (2012). Herder's political thought: A study of language, culture, and community. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 354p.
Edited Book - Research
Spencer, V. A. (Ed.). (2018). Toleration in comparative perspective. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 282p.
Shogimen, T., & Spencer, V. A. (Eds.). (2014). Visions of peace: Asia and the West. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 195p.
Chapter in Book - Research
Spencer, V. A. (2018). “Communitarianism” and patriotism. In M. Sardoč (Ed.), Handbook of patriotism. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-30534-9_33-1
Spencer, V. A. (2018). Introduction. In V. A. Spencer (Ed.), Toleration in comparative perspective. (pp. ix-xxii). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Spencer, V. A. (2018). Conclusion. In V. A. Spencer (Ed.), Toleration in comparative perspective. (pp. 255-258). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Spencer, V. A. (2018). Human fallibility and Locke's doctrine of toleration. In V. A. Spencer (Ed.), Toleration in comparative perspective. (pp. 41-59). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Spencer, V. A. (2016). Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and the women's coffee house. In S. Bruce & K. Smits (Eds.), Feminist moments: Reading feminist texts. (pp. 35-41). London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic.
Spencer, V. A. (2015). Herder, Johann Gottfried (1744–1803). In J. Stone, R. Dennis, P. Rizova, A. D. Smith & X. Hou (Eds.), Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of race, ethnicity, and nationalism. (pp. 1-2). Chichester, UK: Wiley Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9781118663202.wberen475
Shogimen, T., & Spencer, V. A. (2014). Introduction. In T. Shogimen & V. A. Spencer (Eds.), Visions of peace: Asia and the West. (pp. 1-9). Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
Spencer, V. A. (2014). Indigenous inspiration and Herder's peace woman. In T. Shogimen & V. A. Spencer (Eds.), Visions of peace: Asia and the West. (pp. 139-160). Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
Spencer, V. A. (2009). Viewing Islam through Enlightenment eyes. In T. Shogimen & C. J. Nederman (Eds.), Western political thought in dialogue with Asia. (pp. 109-134). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Journal - Research Article
Spencer, V. A. (2015). Kant and Herder on colonialism, indigenous peoples, and minority nations. International Theory, 7(2), 360-392. doi: 10.1017/S1752971915000032
Spencer, V. A. (2014). Rethinking cultural and political nationalism. Politics, Groups, & Identities, 2(4), 666-673. doi: 10.1080/21565503.2014.970561
Spencer, V. A. (2014). Democratic citizenship and the "crisis in Humanities". Humanities, 3(3), 398-414. doi: 10.3390/h3030398
Spencer, V. (2008). Language, history and the nation: An historical approach to evaluating language and cultural claims. Nations & Nationalism, 14(2), 241-259. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8129.2008.00334.x
Spencer, V. (2007). In defense of Herder on cultural diversity and interaction. Review of Politics, 69, 79-105.
Journal - Research Other
Spencer, V. A. (2018). [Review of the book Herder: Philosophy and anthropology]. Journal of the History of Philosophy, 56(3), 564-565. doi: 10.1353/hph.2018.0062
Spencer, V. A. (2017). Toleration in comparative perspective. Women Talking Politics, December, 35.
Spencer, V. A. (2014). Dialogue: Why does culture matter? Politics, Groups, & Identities, 2(4), 661-665. doi: 10.1080/21565503.2014.970562
Spencer, V. A. (2013). [Review of the book Rethinking social justice: From ‘peoples’ to ‘populations’]. Political Science, 65(2), 241-243. doi: 10.1177/0032318713507195a
Spencer, V. A. (2012). [Review of the book Herder on Humanity and Cultural Difference: Enlightened Relativism]. Mind, 121(481), 229-232. doi: 10.1093/mind/fzs041
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Spencer, V. (2009). Recognition, tolerance and humility. Proceedings of the Midwest Political Science Association 67th Annual National Conference. Retrieved from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p363250_index.html
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Spencer, V. (2014). Neutrality and multiculturalism. Proceedings of the New Zealand Political Studies Association (NZPSA) Conference. (pp. 88). Retrieved from http://nzpsa.com/past-nzpsa-conferences/
Spencer, V. A. (2013). Humility as a civic virtue. Proceedings of the New Zealand Political Studies Association (NZPSA) Conference. Retrieved from http://nzpsa.com/past-nzpsa-conferences/
Spencer, V. A. (2011). Forms of public recognition. Proceedings of the New Zealand Political Studies Association (NZPSA) Conference. (pp. 11-12). Retrieved from http://nzpsa.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/nzpsa-2011-conference-abstracts.pdf
Spencer, V. (2007). Viewing 'Islam' through enlightenment eyes. Proceedings of the Australasian Political Studies Association Annual Conference. APSA. Retrieved from http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/psi/news-and-events/apsa/
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Beausoleil, E., Schick, K., Spencer, V. A., & Tan, L. (2017, November-December). The politics of recognition. Panel discussion at the New Zealand Political Studies Association (NZPSA) Conference: (Dis)ordering politics: Exclusion, Resistance and Participation, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Spencer, V. (2016, April). Humility, just deserts, and due recognition. Verbal presentation at the 74th Midwest Political Science Association Annual Conference, Chicago, USA.
Spencer, V. (2016, November). Toleration in comparative perspective. Verbal presentation at the New Zealand Political Studies Association (NZPSA) Conference, Hamilton, New Zealand.
Spencer, V. A. (2016, September). Herder, relativism and pluralism. Verbal presentation at the Relativism in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century German-Speaking Philosophy Conference, Vienna, Austria.
Spencer, V., Smits, K., Winter, S., & MacDonald, L. (2013, December). Why does culture matter? Panel discussion at the New Zealand Political Studies Association (NZPSA) Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Spencer, V. A. (2011, November). Forms of public recognition. Verbal presentation at the Postcolonial Studies Research Network Conference: Citizenship in an Era of Global Crisis, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Spencer, V. A. (2010, September). The politics of humility. Verbal presentation at the Australian Political Studies Association Conference: Connected Globe: Conflicting Worlds, Melbourne, Australia.
Spencer, V. (2009, September). Concepts of power in Montesquieu's Persian Letters and Montagu's Turkish Embassy Letters. Verbal presentation at the Otago/Sydney Early Modern Seminar: Women, Philosophy and Literature in the Early Modern Period, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Lam, C., Spencer, V., Green, K., & Broad, J. (2009, September). A history of women's political thought in Europe 1400-1700 [Roundtable Discussion]. Verbal presentation at the Otago/Sydney Early Modern Seminar: Women, Philosophy and Literature in the Early Modern Period, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Spencer, V. (2009, November-December). Concepts of power in Montesquieu's Persian letters and Montagu's Turkish embassy letters. Verbal presentation at the New Zealand Political Studies Association (NZPSA) Annual Conference, Auckland, New Zealand.
Spencer, V. A. (2009, January). Montagu's Turkish experience. Verbal presentation at the 38th British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Annual Conference, Oxford, UK.
Spencer, V. (2009, August). The historical use of philosophy to underpin modern theory and practice in political science in general. Verbal presentation at the Philosophy in Social Science: Implications for Political and International Theory Workshop, Wellington, New Zealand.
Spencer, V. (2009, December). Herder's peace woman. Verbal presentation at the Visions of Peace: The West and Asia Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Spencer, V. (2008, August). John Locke's doctrine of toleration. Verbal presentation at the New Zealand Political Studies Association Annual Conference, Auckland, New Zealand.
Spencer, V. (2008, July). John Locke on tolerance and humility. Verbal presentation at the Australasian Political Science Association Conference, Brisbane, Australia.
Spencer, V. (2006, December). Viewing 'Islam' through enlightenment eyes. Verbal presentation at the International Symposium: Western Political Thought in Dialogue with Asia, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Spencer, V. (2006, September). Young on fixed identities and co-sovereignty. Verbal presentation at the Australasian Political Studies Association Annual Conference, Newcastle, Australia.
Spencer, V. (2006, August). Iris Marion Young on representations, fixed identities and co-sovereignty. Verbal presentation at the New Zealand Political Studies Association Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand.
