Gender, Race and Philosophy: The Blog

New Website and Symposium

We've moved! Please find our most current and past symposia on our new website: www.sgrponline.com.

New Symposium: Kathryn Gines on Beauvoir

We are happy to announce a new Symposium on Kathryn Gines' article, "Comparative and Competing Frameworks of Oppression in Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex," with commentaries by Nancy Bauer, Sabine Broeck, Penelope Deutscher, and Stephanie Rivera Berruz, and a reply by Kathryn Gines.  Find it here.  Enjoy!

Summer Immersion Program in Philosophy at Brown University 2016

The Brown Philosophy Department is now accepting applications for the Summer Immersion Program in Philosophy at Brown University.

SIPP@Brown is a two-week undergraduate program for members of groups that are underrepresented in philosophy departments, including women and students of color. The 2016 program will run from July 17 to July 30 and will feature seminars taught by Brown faculty and the SIPP@Brown research conference. Each student will receive free lodging on Brown's campus, a $500 stipend, and reimbursement of up to $500 of travel expenses.

To learn more about the program and the application procedure, visit www.sippatbrown.com. The application deadline is March 15. Questions about SIPP@Brown or about the application process should be sent to [email protected]

PIKSI 2016 - Apply Now!

PIKSI 2016  

A SUMMER INSTITUTE FOR UNDERGRADUATES

 

PIKSI summer institutes are designed to encourage undergraduates from underrepresented groups to consider future study of philosophy. Undergraduates and recent graduates from underrepresented groups such as women, African Americans, Chicano/as and Latino/as, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, LGBTs, economically disadvantaged communities, and those with disabilities are urged to apply.**  Transportation and lodging are provided.  Stipends are awarded to all. 

 

PIKSI ROCK

Rock Ethics Institute/Penn State

Date: June 13-22, 2016

Director: Serene Khader (Brooklyn College, City University of New York)

Theme: Philosophy and Social Justice

 

Speakers: 

Chris Lebron

Yale University

Mariana Ortega 

John Carroll University

Meena Krishnamurthy

University of Michigan

Eva Kittay

Stony Brook University

 

PIKSI BOSTON

MIT/UMB (held at MIT, Cambridge, MA)

Date: July 17-23, 2016

Director: Lisa Rivera (University of Massachusetts Boston)

**MIT provides support for full inclusion of disabled participants

 

Speakers: 

Teresa Blankmeyer Burke

Gallaudet University

Alejandro Perez Carballo

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Lewis Gordon

University of Connecticut, Storrs

Rachel McKinney

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Jose Mendoza

University of Massachusetts, Lowell

Serena Parekh

Northeastern University

Tommie Shelby

Harvard University

 

APPLICATION DEADLINE - MARCH 21ST 2016

For more information visit: piksi.org

Contact: [email protected]

 

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!!!

 

 

SPONSORS: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, American Philosophical Association, Penn State's Rock Ethics Institute, MIT School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Harvard University, Wellesley College, Michigan State University, Stony Brook University, University of Oregon, Iris Marian Young DIversity Scholars Fund, Ann Arbor Philosophers' PIKSI Funding Initiative, Association of Feminist Ethics and Social Theory.

Call for Abstracts: Decolonizing Feminism

Decolonizing Feminism: Transnational Feminism & Globalization

Edited by Margaret A. McLaren

This anthology will address pressing questions for transnational feminism in the 21st Century: strategies, methodologies, and controversies. Following Chandra Mohanty’s call for an inclusive feminist politics, this book will focus on current challenges for global/transnational feminism in a globalized world, and how to decolonize feminist theory and feminism. Authors should submit a proposal for an original essay addressing one of the questions below.

Chandra Mohanty has called for an inclusive feminist politics that would be: decolonizing, anti-capitalist, and allow for solidarity.

• In a time of globalization what would this entail?
• Are the visions of a global feminism and transnational feminism compatible
• Is the human rights approach the best approach for feminists in the 21st century
• How do we (feminists) create networks of solidarity transnationally
• How is decolonization enacted in specific locations and projects
• Which methodologies promote a decolonized transnational feminism
• What strategies of resistance work against the force of neo-liberal globalization
• What are some possible interfaces between the local and the global
• How does social location/positionality/identities influence proposed strategies for achieving global gender justice?

Interested authors should submit a 750-word summary of their proposed chapter to Margaret McLaren: [email protected] by Dec 15, 2015. Include author’s name and institutional affiliation on submission. If accepted, the final 10,000-12, 000 word version of the chapter will be due by Sept. 1, 2016.

 

Rhodes Must Fall protest at Oxford

http://oxfordstudent.com/2015/10/24/students-wear-red-in-matriculation-protest/

Students wore red as they matriculated on Saturday in protest at what they say is the University’s continued celebration of colonialism and lack of diversity.

“The wearing of red by matriculating students draws attention to this bloodshed and related oppression, and highlights Oxford’s red-tape culture, which slows down change.  Rhodes Must Fall Oxford also hopes that the wearing of red underscores the need for passion and transformation to raise awareness of these issues in the coming year at Oxford.

“Rhodes Must Fall Oxford looks forward to a year of transformation at Oxford, and hopes that this matricul-action is a sign of things to come.”

Bar On asks "Should We Occupy?"

We invite discussion of Bat-Ami Bar On's paper "Should We Occupy?"

Abstract:

In this essay I ask what is the responsibility of philosophy graduate programs, philosophy faculty, and professional organizations of academic philosophers toward individuals who are interested in pursuing a philosophy Ph.D.. I am especially concerned about responsibilities toward members of groups that are underrepresented in philosophy as an academic discipline who are being actively recruited into the pool of applicants to Ph. D. programs. I ask my questions against a background of bad news about the state of philosophy as an academic profession and the academic humanities more generally, and a reasonable anticipation that there is no light at the end of the tunnel, and so the job prospects of philosophy Ph.D. aspirants are not good. Because of endemic academic inequalities, philosophy Ph.D. aspirants who are members of groups that are currently underrepresented in philosophy are likely to be even worse off than others.

Comments may be anonymous, but please be respectful.  We urge people to read the essay before commenting.

If you have trouble with the link above, you may also download it here.

CFA: Justice and the Social Ontology of Race

FINAL Call for Abstracts- Extended to 9/15:

The North American Society for Social Philosophy (NASSP) invites submissions for its group session at the Pacific APA, 2016. The theme of our session will be:

“Justice and the Social Ontology of Race”

Proposals on topics intersecting this theme, broadly understood, are welcome, and might include:

• The use of racial categories in social planning and policy
• The ontological status and import of racial categories
• Race and the justice system
• The role of race in social and political identity
• Intersectional analyses of racialized experience(s)
• Racial categories and educational institutions
• Race and experience
• Race and equity
• Racial violence
• The status of criminal hate

Other topics in this vein are welcome and encouraged.

Chosen presenters will join our invited speakers, Naomi Zack, Univ. of Oregon, who will present her recent work,"Racial Inequality and Applicative Justice: A Comparative Approach vs. Ideal and Nonideal Theory," and Quayshawn Spencer, U Penn (title TBA).

Submissions should take the form of extended abstracts or papers. Abstracts should be around 1000 words, with bibliography included. Papers should be under 3000 words. Please include the following information in submission: Name, affiliation (if any), email address, and paper title.

We welcome submissions from both members and non-members, but we do require that all presenters join the North American Society for Social Philosophy if their papers are accepted. Notification of acceptance will be made via email in October.

Submission deadline: September 15, 2015

Submissions and questions should be sent to: Devora Shapiro at [email protected], with the subject heading “NASSP APA 2016 SUBMISSION”

For more information on the society and our events, visit our website at:

http://www.northamericansocietyforsocialphilosophy.org/

CFP: Legacies of Colonialism & Philosophies of Resistance

21st Annual Philosophy Conference
Sponsored by the Philosophy Graduate Student Union

“Legacies of Colonialism and Philosophies of Resistance”

Keynote: TBA
April 8-9, 2016
Villanova University

Call For Papers

Millions throughout the world continue to struggle with the consequences of our colonial histories, both in the "first" and "third" worlds. Decolonization is thus an ongoing process that currently has no end in sight, and it implicates intellectuals, politicians, and citizens in all parts of the world. The conference invites participants to join in this process by thinking collectively about the remnants of colonialism's past and the possibility for a decolonized future. Such a project necessarily involves a wide range of disciplines, including philosophy, sociology, political economy, history, cultural studies, and anthropology among others, as well as interpenetrations among such disciplines.

The Philosophy Graduate Student Union at Villanova University welcomes graduate students and faculty to submit papers of approximately 3000 words (including co-authored work), suitable for a 20 minute presentation, to be considered for our conference. Full papers will be strongly prioritized, though abstracts are also welcome (approx. 500 words). Authors submitting promising abstracts will likely receive feedback along with a suggested date by which to submit a more complete paper.

Please send submissions, prepared for anonymous review, by January 10, 2016 to [email protected]

Suggested
paper/panel topics:

• How is theorizing about our colonial histories continually important for understanding and affecting our present? For example, should we consider the contemporary world colonial, postcolonial, neocolonial, imperial, or are these historical categories no longer sufficient?
• Especially taking into account the multiple racial and ethnic divisions that comprise the binary between colonizer and colonized: How have race relations in former colonies affected philosophies of liberation and political projects? How have these philosophies and these projects affected race relations?
• How have the struggles of oppressed genders affected philosophies of liberation and political projects? How have these philosophies and these projects affected the situations and thought of oppressed genders?
• How have colonial and neocolonial regimes inherited, manipulated, and altered sexual practices and identities?
• How does and how should decolonial theory confront the policies and power structures of neoliberalism in both the “first” and “third” worlds?

We also encourage papers on Liberation Philosophy, Liberation Theology, Epistemologies of Ignorance and Resistance, Feminist Epistemologies, Philosophy of Race, and all other topics that might enliven the discourse of decolonial thought.

Suggested figures:
Gloria Anzaldúa, Samir Amin, Homi Bhabha, Amílcar  Cabral, Aimé Césaire, Suzanne Césaire, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Vivek Chibber, Enrique Dussel, Frantz Fanon, Édouard Glissant, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Ranajit Guha, Jamaica Kincaid, María Lugones, Joseph Masad, Achille Mbembe, Albert Memmi, Walter Mignolo, Kwame Nkrumah, Jasbir Puar, Aníbal Quijano, Edward Said, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and others.

For more information, contact:
Luis Alberto Salazar
Graduate Assistant
Philosophy Department
Villlanova University
800 E. Lancaster Avenue
Villanova, PA 19085
[email protected]

Double Jeopardy - A report on women of color in science

Joan Williams (UC Hastings), Katherine Phillips (Columbia), and Erika Hall (Emory) have produced a report on women of color in science called "Double Jeopardy." 

"We interviewed sixty scientists who were all women of color. Women of color face “double jeopardy” because they encounter race as well as gender bias (Epstein, 1973; Almquist, 1975). This study explores how the experience of gender bias differs by race. We use the interviews of women of color in science and a survey that quantifies the experiences of White, Black, Asian-Americans, and Latina women in STEM fields to document the little-explored differences between the experiences of White women and women of color, and between different groups of women of color."

After a richly detailed report, they offer recommendations for change:

"This report concludes by introducing a new approach to organizational change to interrupt gender bias, called Metrics-Based Bias Interrupters (Williams, 2014). In contrast to traditional one-off bias trainings, and traditional sensitivity based organizational change initiatives, Bias Interrupters uses a four-step iterative process: 1) identify how gender bias is playing out, if at all, in basic business systems (recruiting, assignments, evaluations, etc.), 2) develop objective metrics to measure bias, 3) implement a bias interrupter to interrupt the bias, 4) see whether the relevant metric improves and, if it doesn’t, strengthen or modify the intervention. A compilation of Bias Interrupters is provided at the end of this report."

Thanks to Carla Fehr for the link.

Explaining Injustice in Speech

Minds Online has an online conference this month that includes a discussion of injustice in speech, with a lead article on this topic by Saray Ayala: "Explaining Injustice in Speech: Individualistic vs. Structural Explanation."  She begins with an 8 min introduction.  Alex Madva and Valerie Soon reply.

Abstract

Testimonial injustice occurs when the audience deflates a speaker’s credibility due to the speaker’s perceived social identity (Fricker, 2007). Although this phenomenon has received much attention, a lot remains unclear. I identify two drawbacks of a widely accepted explanation attributing testimonial injustice to prejudices (e.g. implicit bias) in the mind of the hearer. I propose an alternative: a structural explanation that appeals to discursive conventions.

h/t Stacey Goguen and Feminist Philosophers Blog.