The Witch: A Reader in Feminist Political Theory

This reader analyses the figure of the witch as resurgent feminist identity, symbol of political protest, and illuminating lens for feminist theorizing. Bringing together established classic essays on the witch with emerging new scholarship and interviews, this volume asks: What power dynamics operate within new forms of identification and commodification of the witch? What is claimed and reclaimed when one identifies as a witch today? What is the relationship between witches, the category of “woman,” and intersecting identities of race, class, and ability? And how does the witch help us conjure up new approaches to – and new canons for – both philosophy and political theory? By exploring the witch, her tools, her speech, her companions and communities, this volume introduces key tensions, critiques, and concepts for feminist political theory.

Katie Howard is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at California State University, Los Angeles. Her work focuses on feminist philosophy and political philosophy, especially the work of Hannah Arendt, with additional research interests in contemporary affect theory. Her work has appeared in the journals Raisons Politiques, Journal of World Philosophies, Global Justice: Theory, Practice, Rhetoric, and The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Shannon Mariotti is Professor of Political Science at Trinity University, in San Antonio, Texas. She is the author of Thoreau’s Democratic Withdrawal: Alienation, Participation, and Modernity (2010) as well as Adorno and Democracy: The American Years (2016). She is also co-editor of A Political Companion to Marilynne Robinson (2016). Her most recent book is Contemplative Democracy: Politics, Practice, and Pedagogy (2025). She is co-editor of Contemplative Praxis and Politics (forthcoming).

Katie Howard is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at California State University, Los Angeles. Her work focuses on feminist philosophy and political philosophy, especially the work of Hannah Arendt, with additional research interests in contemporary affect theory. Her work has appeared in the journals Raisons Politiques, Journal of World Philosophies, and Global Justice: Theory, Practice, Rhetoric, and The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Shannon Mariotti is Professor of Political Science at Trinity University, in San Antonio, Texas. Her scholarship focuses on democratic theory and practice, with a focus on 19th century American Transcendentalism and Romanticism as well as 20th century Critical Social Theory and Modernism. She is the author of Thoreau’s Democratic Withdrawal: Alienation, Participation, and Modernity (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2010) as well as Adorno and Democracy: The American Years (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2016). She is also co-editor of A Political Companion to Marilynne Robinson (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2016). Her most recent book is Contemplative Democracy: Politics, Practice, and Pedagogy(New York: Oxford University Press, 2025). She is co-editor of Contemplative Praxis and Politics (forthcoming from Routledge, 2026).