My work
I’m an Associate Professor in European Languages (French and Francophone Studies) at Monash University, based in Melbourne, Australia. At the broadest level, my work asks a simple question: how do people make sense of the world? I’m interested in the stories, concepts, and “common sense” assumptions that often invisibly shape modern life, and in how those frames can be described carefully, tested rigorously, and (when needed) challenged intelligently.
Much of my research sits at the intersection of modern and contemporary French thought, intellectual history, and social critique: atheism and the secular; competing accounts of what it means to be human; and the way concepts migrate between philosophy, politics, theology, and everyday public life. I’m also interested in the practical craft of interpretation: how we read fairly, argue well, and learn to understand positions we don’t share.
The social contract
My recent work has moved increasingly into questions of the social contract, ecology, and the deep narratives the modern West tells about origins, freedom, and belonging. From 2021–2025 I held an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship on Rewriting the Social Contract: Ecology, Technology, Extremism (you can find an overview and related writing here). These themes also converge in my book The State of Nature and the Shaping of Modernity: Tracing the Roots of Colonialism, Secularity, and Ecology (Cambridge University Pres, 2026).
Modern and contemporary French thought
Alongside this, I’ve written a number of books introducing and engaging key thinkers in the French tradition. You can see an up-to-date list on my Books page. Other recent books include Michel Serres: Figures of Thought (Edinburgh University Press, 2021). I’ve also written shorter introductions to Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Gilles Deleuze for the P&R “Great Thinkers” series (starting point: Jacques Derrida).
Theology and philosophy
A second strand of my writing engages questions of culture, meaning, and modern life from an explicitly Christian standpoint, trying to take both Scripture and contemporary culture with full seriousness. If that interests you, you might like and Thinking Through Creation, Biblical Critical Theory and the website Thinking Through the Bible, which explore how biblical theology can generate fresh conceptual tools for understanding, critiquing and serving the world we inhabit.
Editorships
I edit the international Crosscurrents monograph series (Edinburgh University Press), and I’m the General Editor of the Australian Journal of French Studies. I also enjoy speaking and teaching beyond the university; a selection of talks, interviews, and audio/video can be found on my Video/Audio/Press page.
Education
Before moving to Melbourne in 2011, I studied at the University of Cambridge (Undergraduate MML, and MPhil in European Literature and Culture at Jesus College; JRF at Magdalene College; two years as a University Lecturer at Murray Edwards College), and completed a PhD at Jesus College on phenomenology and deconstruction. I’m married to Alison and we have two children. I became a Christian when I was fifteen, and that commitment continues to shape the questions I ask and the way I try to ask them: with intellectual honesty, attentiveness to detail, and a concern for what helps human beings and human communities flourish.
I’m also on X at @DrChrisWatkin and Bluesky @drchriswatkin.bsky.social.