Karen Valihora
Associate Professor
Office: Atkinson Building, 740
Phone: 6475049771
Email: valihora@yorku.ca
Secondary website: The Picton Gazette
Media Requests Welcome
Accepting New Graduate Students
Karen Valihora specializes in the history of ideas about community and civil society. She is working on a book called Golden Ages, which explores the history of community and ethical relationship as represented in literature and film from Ancient Greek pastoral to Eleanor Catton's Birnam Wood. Her first book, Austen’s Oughts: Judgment after Locke and Shaftesbury (2010), foregrounds impartial judgment in literature and philosophy from Locke to Austen. She is also the publisher, with Queen's University's Chris Fanning, of The Picton Gazette, Canada's oldest weekly newspaper, founded in 1830. She teaches the Small Town in Literature and Film, the Aesthetics of Community, the English Romantics, and Milton.
Karen Valihora specializes in the history of ideas about community and civil society. She is working on a book called Golden Ages, which explores the history of community and ethical relationship as represented in literature and film from Ancient Greek pastoral to Eleanor Catton's Birnam Wood. Her first book, Austen’s Oughts: Judgment after Locke and Shaftesbury (2010), foregrounds impartial judgment in literature and philosophy from Locke to Austen. She is also the publisher, with Queen's University's Chris Fanning, of The Picton Gazette, Canada's oldest weekly newspaper, founded in 1830. She teaches the Small Town in Literature and Film, the Aesthetics of Community, the English Romantics, and Milton.
Degrees
Ph.D. Department of English, Yale UniversityDiplôme de langue Française de la Sorbonne, Université de Paris IV, Cours de Langue et Civilisation Françaises
M.A. (English Literature), McGill University
B.A. (English Literature), McGill University
Appointments
Faculty of Graduate StudiesProfessional Leadership
Graduate Program Director, Department of English, from 2018-2024.
Panel Organizer and Chair, “Aesthetics and Affect I” and “Aesthetics and Affect II.” American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies. Baltimore. April 2022.
Director, “The Impartial Spectator in Adam Smith and Jane Austen.” Liberty Fund Colloquium, Toronto, July 12-15, 2018.
Director, “Judgment and Freedom in Shaftesbury and Mandeville.” The Liberty Fund. Toronto. April 21-24, 2015.
Community Contributions
Karen Valihora is co-publisher of The Picton Gazette newspaper in Prince Edward County.
Research Interests
Current Research Projects
-
Summary:
Together with Christopher Fanning, a prof at Queen's, Karen Valihora is the publisher of the Picton Gazette, a weekly paper serving Prince Edward County. The newspaper invites students, colleagues, and members of the public to write features that address any aspect of the sense of place. The newspaper provides a forum for research on issues of global concern – urban planning and the development of rural land, agri-tourism and the farm-to-table movements, sustainable agriculture and fisheries, and the importance of local and living histories, to give just a few examples.
Description:Through the revitalization of a local community newspaper we are engaged in three related projects: to expand and deepen the role and purpose of a historic community newspaper, to make it digitally accessible to a wider audience, and to re-think, re-orient, and re-frame the work the university does. York and Queen's Universities are committed to expanding the role of the university in the community. Part of that work involves transforming sophisticated and original research and scholarship into forms accessible and useful to a wider readership.
Start Date:
- Month: May Year: 2023
Collaborator: Christopher Fanning
Collaborator Institution: Queen's University
Collaborator Role: Publisher and Editor
“The Whig Theory of Mind.” Review of Jacob Sider Jost, Interest and Connection, Virginia, 2020. The Adam Smith Review, Winter 2023.
“Genealogies of Common Sense.” Review of Christopher Henke, Common Sense in Early 18th-Century British Literature and Culture: Ethics, Aesthetics and Politics, 1680-1750. De Gruyter Mouton, 2014. The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats, Spring 2018.
“’She Got Up and Went Away:’ Rachel Cusk on Making an Exit,” English Studies in Canada. (No. 45.1-2 March-June 2021) 19-35.
“Impartial Spectator meets Picturesque Tourist: The Framing of Mansfield Park.” Eighteenth-Century Fiction 20.1 (Fall 2007) pp. 57-87.
“The Judgement of Judgement in Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments,” British Journal of Aesthetics 41.2 (April 2001) pp. 138-61.
Review of Speaking in Hunger: Gender, Discourse and Consumption in Clarissa, by Donnalee Frega, Eighteenth-Century Fiction 11.3 (April 1999) pp. 363-66.
Panelist, “Aesthetics and Politics of Kames and Burke.” Chair: Rachel Zuckert. Liberty Fund Colloquium. Seattle, Washington. August 2010.
Panelist, “Commerce, Civilization and Liberty: Montesquieu and Adam Smith.” Liberty Fund Colloquium. Chair: Maria Pia Paganelli. Montreal. August 2009.
Panelist, “Republican Liberty in Milton’s Political Writings and Paradise Lost.” Liberty Fund Colloquium. Chair. John T. Scott. San Diego. May 2009.
Panelist, “The Liberties of History.” Liberty Fund Colloquium. Chair: Eduardo Velasquez. Tuscon, Arizona. November 2009.
“The Silence of Ajax: Hume’s Moral Sublime.” Panel: Classical Literature and English Prose. Chair: Adam Potkay. American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS). Richmond, Virginia. March, 2009.
“Empiricism Under Judgment.” Panel: Aesthetics after Locke. Chair: David Richter. American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) Portland, Oregon. April, 2008.
Panelist, “Religion, Freedom and Citizenship in Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise.” Liberty Fund Colloquium. Chair: Eric Schliesser. Indianapolis, June 2008.
Panelist, “The Moral and Political Economy of Freedom: Kames and Smith.” Liberty Fund Colloquium. Chair: Eduardo Velasquez. San Francisco, November 2008.
“Immediate Perception.” Panel: Aesthetics after Locke. Chair: Ian Balfour. Northeast American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (Neasecs). November, 2004.
“The Small Town as Film Set.” Panel: The Small Town in Literature, Film and Song. American Culture Association. San Antonio, Texas. April 2004.
“Aesthetics after Locke.” Panel: General Session on the History of Aesthetics. International Association for the Study of Literature and Philosophy (IAPL). Leeds, England. May, 2003.
“Back to Beauty.” Panel: Aesthetics after Locke. Chair: Dr. Ian Balfour. American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (ASECS). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. March 2000.
“The Figure in the Mirror: Shaftesbury’s Advice to an Author.” Panel: The Mind and World from Locke to Stewart. Chair: David Raynor. Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (CSECS). University of Toronto. October 2000.
“Clarissa and the Eyes of the World.” Panel: Epistolarity and the Moral Sense. Canadian Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (CSECS). Montreal, Quebec. October 1999.
“The Spectacle of Private Life in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.” Panel: The Invention of Scandal: The Publicity of the Private. Northeastern Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (NEASECS). Durham, New Hampshire. December 1999.
“Transparent Views: Narrative Aesthetics in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park.” Panel: Eighteenth-Century Landscapes and Textscapes. Chair: John Crossen. American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (ASECS) Milwaukee, Wisconsin. March 1999.
“Fragmented and Unfinished Discourses: The Ruin of the Picturesque.” Panel: The Unfinished. International Association for the Study of Literature and Philosophy (IAPL). Irvine, California. May 1998.
“‘The True Art of Seeing Nature’: Sir Joshua Reynolds and the Discourse of the Picturesque.” Panel: The 1790s. American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (ASECS). Notre Dame, Indiana. April 1998.
“Good Old British Common Sense and Kant’s Critique of Judgment.” Panel: German Philosophy in England. Chair: David Hensley. North East American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (NEASECS). Ottawa, Ontario. September 1995.
“Austen’s Oughts: Moral and Aesthetic priorities in Emma,” McMaster University Critical Intimacies series. November, 2009.
“Austen’s Oughts: Shaftesbury and Pride and Prejudice.” University of Toronto Eighteenth-Century Studies Colloquium. November 2008.
“Psychic Economics of the Small Town Film.” York University Department of English Graduate Student Colloquium. January 2005.
“The Golden Age and the Small Town.” Toronto Arts and Letters Club. January, 2005.
“Adam Smith’s Moral Sentiments and Kant’s Aesthetic Judgment.” Invoking Community: York University Graduate Student Colloquium. March 1998.
“The Ruin of the Picturesque: Reynolds and Gainsborough.” Paper and Slides presentation. York University Faculty Colloquium, Department of English. March 1998.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall/Winter 2025 | AP/EN3073 6.0 | A | The Small Town in Film and Literature | SEMR |
Karen Valihora specializes in the history of ideas about community and civil society. She is working on a book called Golden Ages, which explores the history of community and ethical relationship as represented in literature and film from Ancient Greek pastoral to Eleanor Catton's Birnam Wood. Her first book, Austen’s Oughts: Judgment after Locke and Shaftesbury (2010), foregrounds impartial judgment in literature and philosophy from Locke to Austen. She is also the publisher, with Queen's University's Chris Fanning, of The Picton Gazette, Canada's oldest weekly newspaper, founded in 1830. She teaches the Small Town in Literature and Film, the Aesthetics of Community, the English Romantics, and Milton.
Karen Valihora specializes in the history of ideas about community and civil society. She is working on a book called Golden Ages, which explores the history of community and ethical relationship as represented in literature and film from Ancient Greek pastoral to Eleanor Catton's Birnam Wood. Her first book, Austen’s Oughts: Judgment after Locke and Shaftesbury (2010), foregrounds impartial judgment in literature and philosophy from Locke to Austen. She is also the publisher, with Queen's University's Chris Fanning, of The Picton Gazette, Canada's oldest weekly newspaper, founded in 1830. She teaches the Small Town in Literature and Film, the Aesthetics of Community, the English Romantics, and Milton.
Degrees
Ph.D. Department of English, Yale UniversityDiplôme de langue Française de la Sorbonne, Université de Paris IV, Cours de Langue et Civilisation Françaises
M.A. (English Literature), McGill University
B.A. (English Literature), McGill University
Appointments
Faculty of Graduate StudiesProfessional Leadership
Graduate Program Director, Department of English, from 2018-2024.
Panel Organizer and Chair, “Aesthetics and Affect I” and “Aesthetics and Affect II.” American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies. Baltimore. April 2022.
Director, “The Impartial Spectator in Adam Smith and Jane Austen.” Liberty Fund Colloquium, Toronto, July 12-15, 2018.
Director, “Judgment and Freedom in Shaftesbury and Mandeville.” The Liberty Fund. Toronto. April 21-24, 2015.
Community Contributions
Karen Valihora is co-publisher of The Picton Gazette newspaper in Prince Edward County.
Research Interests
Current Research Projects
-
Summary:
Together with Christopher Fanning, a prof at Queen's, Karen Valihora is the publisher of the Picton Gazette, a weekly paper serving Prince Edward County. The newspaper invites students, colleagues, and members of the public to write features that address any aspect of the sense of place. The newspaper provides a forum for research on issues of global concern – urban planning and the development of rural land, agri-tourism and the farm-to-table movements, sustainable agriculture and fisheries, and the importance of local and living histories, to give just a few examples.
Description:Through the revitalization of a local community newspaper we are engaged in three related projects: to expand and deepen the role and purpose of a historic community newspaper, to make it digitally accessible to a wider audience, and to re-think, re-orient, and re-frame the work the university does. York and Queen's Universities are committed to expanding the role of the university in the community. Part of that work involves transforming sophisticated and original research and scholarship into forms accessible and useful to a wider readership.
Project Type: FundedRole: Publisher and Editor
Start Date:
- Month: May Year: 2023
Collaborator: Christopher Fanning
Collaborator Institution: Queen's University
Collaborator Role: Publisher and Editor
All Publications
“The Whig Theory of Mind.” Review of Jacob Sider Jost, Interest and Connection, Virginia, 2020. The Adam Smith Review, Winter 2023.
“Genealogies of Common Sense.” Review of Christopher Henke, Common Sense in Early 18th-Century British Literature and Culture: Ethics, Aesthetics and Politics, 1680-1750. De Gruyter Mouton, 2014. The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats, Spring 2018.
“’She Got Up and Went Away:’ Rachel Cusk on Making an Exit,” English Studies in Canada. (No. 45.1-2 March-June 2021) 19-35.
“Impartial Spectator meets Picturesque Tourist: The Framing of Mansfield Park.” Eighteenth-Century Fiction 20.1 (Fall 2007) pp. 57-87.
“The Judgement of Judgement in Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments,” British Journal of Aesthetics 41.2 (April 2001) pp. 138-61.
Review of Speaking in Hunger: Gender, Discourse and Consumption in Clarissa, by Donnalee Frega, Eighteenth-Century Fiction 11.3 (April 1999) pp. 363-66.
Panelist, “Aesthetics and Politics of Kames and Burke.” Chair: Rachel Zuckert. Liberty Fund Colloquium. Seattle, Washington. August 2010.
Panelist, “Commerce, Civilization and Liberty: Montesquieu and Adam Smith.” Liberty Fund Colloquium. Chair: Maria Pia Paganelli. Montreal. August 2009.
Panelist, “Republican Liberty in Milton’s Political Writings and Paradise Lost.” Liberty Fund Colloquium. Chair. John T. Scott. San Diego. May 2009.
Panelist, “The Liberties of History.” Liberty Fund Colloquium. Chair: Eduardo Velasquez. Tuscon, Arizona. November 2009.
“The Silence of Ajax: Hume’s Moral Sublime.” Panel: Classical Literature and English Prose. Chair: Adam Potkay. American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS). Richmond, Virginia. March, 2009.
“Empiricism Under Judgment.” Panel: Aesthetics after Locke. Chair: David Richter. American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) Portland, Oregon. April, 2008.
Panelist, “Religion, Freedom and Citizenship in Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise.” Liberty Fund Colloquium. Chair: Eric Schliesser. Indianapolis, June 2008.
Panelist, “The Moral and Political Economy of Freedom: Kames and Smith.” Liberty Fund Colloquium. Chair: Eduardo Velasquez. San Francisco, November 2008.
“Immediate Perception.” Panel: Aesthetics after Locke. Chair: Ian Balfour. Northeast American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (Neasecs). November, 2004.
“The Small Town as Film Set.” Panel: The Small Town in Literature, Film and Song. American Culture Association. San Antonio, Texas. April 2004.
“Aesthetics after Locke.” Panel: General Session on the History of Aesthetics. International Association for the Study of Literature and Philosophy (IAPL). Leeds, England. May, 2003.
“Back to Beauty.” Panel: Aesthetics after Locke. Chair: Dr. Ian Balfour. American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (ASECS). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. March 2000.
“The Figure in the Mirror: Shaftesbury’s Advice to an Author.” Panel: The Mind and World from Locke to Stewart. Chair: David Raynor. Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (CSECS). University of Toronto. October 2000.
“Clarissa and the Eyes of the World.” Panel: Epistolarity and the Moral Sense. Canadian Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (CSECS). Montreal, Quebec. October 1999.
“The Spectacle of Private Life in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.” Panel: The Invention of Scandal: The Publicity of the Private. Northeastern Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (NEASECS). Durham, New Hampshire. December 1999.
“Transparent Views: Narrative Aesthetics in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park.” Panel: Eighteenth-Century Landscapes and Textscapes. Chair: John Crossen. American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (ASECS) Milwaukee, Wisconsin. March 1999.
“Fragmented and Unfinished Discourses: The Ruin of the Picturesque.” Panel: The Unfinished. International Association for the Study of Literature and Philosophy (IAPL). Irvine, California. May 1998.
“‘The True Art of Seeing Nature’: Sir Joshua Reynolds and the Discourse of the Picturesque.” Panel: The 1790s. American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (ASECS). Notre Dame, Indiana. April 1998.
“Good Old British Common Sense and Kant’s Critique of Judgment.” Panel: German Philosophy in England. Chair: David Hensley. North East American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (NEASECS). Ottawa, Ontario. September 1995.
“Austen’s Oughts: Moral and Aesthetic priorities in Emma,” McMaster University Critical Intimacies series. November, 2009.
“Austen’s Oughts: Shaftesbury and Pride and Prejudice.” University of Toronto Eighteenth-Century Studies Colloquium. November 2008.
“Psychic Economics of the Small Town Film.” York University Department of English Graduate Student Colloquium. January 2005.
“The Golden Age and the Small Town.” Toronto Arts and Letters Club. January, 2005.
“Adam Smith’s Moral Sentiments and Kant’s Aesthetic Judgment.” Invoking Community: York University Graduate Student Colloquium. March 1998.
“The Ruin of the Picturesque: Reynolds and Gainsborough.” Paper and Slides presentation. York University Faculty Colloquium, Department of English. March 1998.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall/Winter 2025 | AP/EN3073 6.0 | A | The Small Town in Film and Literature | SEMR |
