Barbara Gold Taylor (born 11 April 1950) is a Canadian-born historian based in the United Kingdom, specialising in the Enlightenment, gender studies and the history of

subjectivity The distinction between subjectivity and objectivity is a basic idea of philosophy, particularly epistemology and metaphysics. Various understandings of this distinction have evolved through the work of countless philosophers over centuries. One b ...

. She is Professor of

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

Queen Mary, University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London. Today, ...

. She was born and raised in Western Canada. In 1971, she was awarded her first degree in political thought from the University of Saskatchewan. She then moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where she gained an MSc in the same subject at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, followed by a PhD in history at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

. She taught history at the University of East London from 1993 until 2012 and then moved to

, as joint professor of the schools of English & Drama, and History. She has received research grants and fellowships from the Leverhulme Trust, the Nuffield Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation (1996), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...

. Taylor has written a biography of Mary Wollstonecraft, the early English feminist and republican, and continues to speak on her life. She spoke about her in 2009 at Newington Green Unitarian Church as part of the 250th anniversary of Wollstonecraft's birth. With the psychologist Adam Phillips, Taylor is the co-author of ''On Kindness'' (2009). Taylor's memoir ''The Last Asylum: A Memoir of Madness in Our Times'', describing her years at

Friern Hospital Friern Hospital (formerly Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum) was a psychiatric hospital in the parish of Friern Barnet close to a crossroads which had a hamlet (place), hamlet known as Colney Hatch. In 1965, it became part of the London Borough of B ...

, was published in 2014. It was a finalist for the 2015 RBC Taylor Prize.

References

External links

Barbara Taylor
profile at the Queen Mary college of the University of London {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Barbara (historian) 1950 births Academics of Queen Mary University of London British biographers British women academics Canadian women academics Fellows of the Royal Historical Society British gender studies academics Living people Mary Wollstonecraft scholars University of Saskatchewan alumni Deutscher Memorial Prize winners Canadian gender studies academics