Gender, Race and Philosophy: The Blog

Feminist Philosophy and Essentialism Conference

HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN, GERMANY INSTITUT FÜR PHILOSOPHIE SYMPOSIUM SERIES:

FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY AND… ESSENTIALISM

Dates: 19 – 20th of July 2012

Location: Senatssaal, Humboldt-Universität Main Building (Unter den Linden 6), Berlin

Description: Would you be the same individual if you were gendered differently? The workshop asks this and related questions with a special emphasis on Charlotte Witt’s recent book The Metaphysics of Gender (Oxford University Press, 2011). According to Witt, most ordinary social agents find the answer to the above question to be an obvious ‘No!’ and they have no difficulties providing an intuitive answer. By contrast, most academic feminists working on gender find the answer neither obvious nor easy. What generates such divergent views and why are ordinary agents so secure in their gender ascriptions? In her book, Witt provides an articulation of this and offers an account of gender essentialism that is based on Aristotelian unification essentialism: gender (being a woman/ man) functions to unify social individuals so that an individual – rather than an aggregate of diverse parts – exists. The workshop interrogates Witt’s view, considers alternatives to it and discusses the role of gender essentialism in feminist philosophy.

Speakers:

Dan López de Sa (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain)

Eva von Redecker (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany)

Natalie Stoljar (McGill University, Canada)

Alison Stone (Lancaster University, UK)

Charlotte Witt (University of New Hampshire, USA)

Attendance is free but places are limited. To register, please email feminismhu@gmail.com by 30th of June 2012. We hope to be able to provide travel bursaries for students/ unwaged participants. If you would like to be considered for one, or have any queries regarding the Symposium Series/ this event, please contact the organiser Mari Mikkola (mari.mikkola@hu-berlin.de). ---

Prof. Dr. Mari Mikkola Juniorprofessorin für Praktische Philosophie/ Junior Professor in Practical Philosophy Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Institut für Philosophie Under den Linden 6 D-10099 Berlin Germany Website: http://www.philosophie.hu-berlin.de/institut/lehrbereiche/politik/mikkola/mitarbeiter/mikkola_mari

Number of women faculty in U.S. doctoral programs in philosophy

The list of "Tenured/tenure-track faculty women at 98 U.S. doctoral programs in philosophy" has just been updated.  Thanks to Julie Van Camp for doing this.

The 2011 list can can be found here.

Conference on Bias

HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN, GERMANY INSTITUT FÜR PHILOSOPHIE
SYMPOSIUM SERIES:  FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY AND…

THE INAUGURAL EVENT ON BIAS

25 – 26th August 2011

Location: Kleiner Senatssaal (Humboldt-Universität Main Building, Unter den Linden 6, Berlin)

The concept of bias has played a key role in shaping feminist epistemology and philosophy of science. It is not, however, an uncontested concept. Feminist philosophers disagree amongst themselves on how the concept should be understood, and whether bias is inevitable. They further disagree on how feminists should respond to and deal with bias. For instance, are biases always detrimental to our knowledge seeking activities? Or, can certain explicit biases (like feminist and anti-racist ones) make our epistemic practices more robustly truth-seeking?

More recently, political and ethical discussions have started making use of the concept of bias. Both philosophers and psychologists alike have begun examining certain sorts of widespread implicit biases about members of stigmatised social groups. The holders of these biases are generally unaware of them, and often have sincere and explicit egalitarian beliefs. On one understanding, implicit biases are unconscious prejudices that unduly affect our ways of both positively and negatively perceiving, evaluating, and interacting with others. The recognition and analysis of such biases has wide-ranging consequences for feminist philosophy and politics, as well as for every other movement seeking social justice. Implicit biases may explain why members of particular groups still find it hard to ‘make it’, despite the lack of overt obstacles to positions of power and authority.  Given its centrality to a number of feminist debates, this conference examines the notion of bias (broadly conceived).

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS:

Louise Antony (University of Massachusetts, Amherts, USA): "Different Voices or Perfect Storm? Explaining the Dearth of Women In Philosophy"

Jennifer Saul (University of Sheffield, UK): "Formal Equality of Opportunity and Affirmative Action"

Matthew Drabek (University of Iowa, US): “A Model of Feedback Bias in the Social Sciences”

Catherine Hundleby (University of Windsor, Canada): “Bias and Fallacies of Argumentation: The Case of Androcentrism”

Kristen Intemann (Montana State University, US) & Inmaculada de Melo‐Martín (Weill Cornell Medical College, US): “Bias and the Commercialization of Scientific Research: Can a Feminist Conception of
Impartiality Help?”

Peter Kirwan (University of California, Irvine, US): “Implicit Bias: Mapping the Dark Matter of Social Psychology”

Heidi Lockwood (Southern Connecticut State University, US): “Why does Diversity Matter in the Academy”

Susanne Pohlmann (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany): “Accountability and Underpinning Attitudes of Biased Beliefs”

This conference also serves as the inaugural event for the new Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Symposium Series Feminist Philosophy and…. It will be followed by further regular events on topics relevant and of interest to feminist philosophers and all philosophers working on issues to do with social justice. Planned future topics include Feminist Philosophy and: Gender, Pornography, Race, Sex work.

Attendance is free but places are limited. To register, email feminism-hu@gmx.de by 11th August 2011. For further information about the Symposium Series and the event on Bias, please contact Prof. Dr. Mari Mikkola (mari.mikkola@hu-berlin.de).

Blacks in Philosophy

Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman has brought to my attention the following important facts and raises a call for action:

1. Only 50 out of 14,000 professors in Britain are black 

The data in item #1 is reported here http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/27/only-50-black-british-professors?intcmp=239, and here http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2011/may/27/black-professor-shortage-failure-to-nurture-talent. To my knowledge (and I am a citizen of Britain), none of these 50 black professors specialises in philosophy.

2. Fewer than 125 out of 11,000 members of the American Philosophical Association are black

3. Fewer than 30 out of 11,000 members of the American Philosophical Association are black women

The data in items #2 and #3 are drawn from Kathryn T. Gines. Being a black woman philosopher: Reflections on founding the Collegium of Black Women Philosophers. Hypatia 26(2): 429-43.

Together, these facts add weight to the conclusion that there is a global lack of blacks in professional philosophy. I urge the philosophical professioriat to take immediate and positive action to combat this global lack. Please do convey my entreaty to your readers.

Comments?  Suggestions?

TIWAFLL flickr stream

MIT Women's and Gender Studies has undertaken a campaign to make feminism more visible.  Many people accept the basic principles of feminism (anti-sexism!?) but resist the f-word.  Our thought is that by showing that feminism is a broad-based movement that includes people of all kinds, we can defuse some of the anxiety about the word and build connections and coalitions more easily. 

We began by using International Women's Day as an occasion to wear a sticker saying "This is what a feminist looks like" and then moved on to photograph members of the MIT community wearing their stickers.  You can find it on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mit.wgs?ref=ts#!/media/set/fbx/?set=a.1436127642686.52869.1817835690
Our most recent effort was at the MIT Open House celebrating MIT's 150th anniversary (4/30).  We set up a photo booth and offered a tote bag printed with "This is what a feminist looks like at MIT"  to anyone who would have their photo taken with a sign saying the same thing.  We were busy all day and over 175 people participated.  It is an AMAZING display and includes the president of MIT, Susan Hockfield, the Dean of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Deborah Fitzgerald, the former mayor of Cambridge, Denise Simmons, and many many more from around the area and around the world.  Find it here:

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjuDf3n3

It is an important reminder that feminism is a broad-based and much loved movement.  Show your feminist pride!

SGRP Symposium on Autonomy Posted

Please note that the SGRP has posted its Winter 2011 Symposium on two papers on autonomy:

Catriona Mackenzie and Jacqui Poltera, 2010. “Narrative Integration, Fragmented Selves and Autonomy.” Hypatia 25(1): 31-54, and

Andrea C. Westlund, 2009.  “Rethinking Relational Autonomy.” Hypatia 24(4): 26-49.

Commentaries are by: Paul Benson (University of Dayton); John Christman (Pennsylvania State University); James Rocha (Louisiana State University); and Natalie Stoljar (McGill University), with replies by Mackenzie and Poltera, and Westlund.

Please have a look and join the discussion by posting your comments on the symposium page.

Conference: Is There Space for Race in Evolutionary Biology?

Dear colleague,

Past attempts to define 'race' using traits or genes have failed.  However, biologists have had great success in defining stubborn biological terms, such as 'species', using evolutionary theory.  Can it be that 'race' is definable evolutionarily?  You are cordially invited to attend a special Spring Conference, co-sponsored by the Bay Area Biosystematists (BABS) and USF's Department of Philosophy , entitled, Is There Space for Race in Evolutionary Biology? 

The conference will be held on May 14, 2011 at USF's McLaren 250.  The event is from 12:45-7pm.  There will be plenty of time for audience discussion.  There will be refreshments at breaks and a reception, and the event is free and open to the public.  This conference promises to be engaging and controversial.  Hope to see you there!  Please visit our conference website, below, for more details, and feel free to circulate the attached flyer to others who you think may be interested in attending.

https://sites.google.com/site/babsspringconference2011/

Sincerely,

Quayshawn Spencer, conference co-organizer

Charles Mills in On the Human Forum

See Charles Mills' essay "The Political Economy of Personhood" in the Forum at On the Human:  http://onthehuman.org/

or directly:  http://onthehuman.org/2011/04/political-economy-of-personhood/

Please join the discussion using "comments" and spread the word!

The Mentoring Project

Sent on behalf of Ann Cudd and Louise Antony.

Colleagues,
We invite applications to a mentoring workshop for junior faculty women in philosophy. This workshop will be held June 19-21 at the campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and co-directed by Louise Antony and Ann Cudd. The workshop is designed to help women advance in the philosophy profession. Mentees will be placed in networking groups led by a senior women in their field. Each group will meet in four (or five) working sessions, to discuss, in turn, a work-in-progress provided by each mentee. There will also be panel discussions of professional issues facing women philosophy.

For more information and instructions for applying, please see the project website: <http://www.philosophy.ku.edu/mentoring-project/>.

You may contact Ann Cudd (acudd@ku.edu) or Louise Antony (lantony@philos.umass.edu) for more information, as well.

The Workshop is being sponsored by a grant from the American Philosophical Association, the Department of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the University of Kansas.

Please bring this to the attention of junior women faculty in Philosophy.

Sincerely,
Ann Cudd

Ann E. Cudd
Professor of Philosophy
Associate Dean for the Humanities
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
University of Kansas

PIKSI Call for Graduate Assistant Applications 2011

PIKSI 2011 GRADUATE ASSISTANT
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

The sixth annual meeting of Philosophy in an Inclusive Key Summer Institute
(PIKSI) will take place from July 31 – August 6, 2011, at the Rock Ethics
Institute on the campus of Penn State University in State College, PA. At
least two graduate students will assist Ladelle McWhorter, who will direct
the Institute. In addition, one graduate assistant will come from the Penn
State philosophy department. We expect that, as was the case in previous
summers, the home institution of the other graduate assistants will fund
their positions. (The philosophy departments of the University of Memphis,
Binghamton University, Villanova University, Michigan State University,
University of Colorado at Boulder, Stony Brook University, Dalhousie,
American University, and DePaul University generously supported PIKSI
graduate assistants in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.)

We invite those of you teaching in graduate programs to nominate graduate
student assistants for PIKSI. The applications will be screened according to
the graduate student’s accomplishments as a researcher, a teacher, and
mentor; the relevance of her or his research to the topics of the institute;
and the home institution’s willingness to fund the student (approximately
$2000, including travel, housing, and stipend).

Applications should include a cover letter from the graduate student in
which they discuss why they would like to be a graduate assistant for PIKSI,
the graduate student’s CV, a letter of support from a faculty member, and
documentation of institutional support, if available. Please email complete
applications to Ladelle McWhorter, Philosophy Department, University of
Richmond, 28 Westhampton Way, Richmond, VA 23173, by March 7, 2011. If you
have any further questions please contact Eva Feder Kittay, PIKSI Board
Chair, at eva.kittay@stonybrook.edu <us003667@mindspring.com> or Ladelle
McWhorter, Director of PIKSI Summer 2011, at lmcwhort@richmond.edu