Gender, Race and Philosophy: The Blog

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!

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.

 

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]

Myisha Cherry on Anger

Check out her Ted Talk, "Anger is Not A Bad Word."  As she describes it: "In it I argue for the five features of moral anger against injustice. I also use the work of Audre Lorde to respond to criticism from the "anger police."" Fantastic.

Call for Papers: Perspectives on Gender

Perspectives on Gender

October 24th-25th, 2014
University of California, Irvine
www.perspectivesongender.com

In light of recent national attention given to the status of women in the
field of philosophy, this conference aims to promote open and
multi-disciplinary discussion of issues related to gender. We plan to
exchange views on a variety of topics organized under our conference
themes of gender and knowledge, gender and social justice, gender and
science, and gender and discrimination.  Central goals of the conference
are to encourage discussion in the face of disagreement and a commitment
to problem recognition and resolution in areas related to the conference
themes. Although the conference discourse will extend across disciplines,
we will devote special attention to concerns of women in philosophy.

Perspectives on Gender is organized by the UC Irvine Hypatia Society, an
organization aimed at promoting the recruitment, retention, and success of
graduate women in philosophy at UC Irvine.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

Azizah al Hibri (University of Richmond)
Claudia Card (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Ann Cudd (University of Kansas)
Helen Longino (Stanford)

Call for Papers

We invite contributions on any topic related to gender and particularly
those connected to the themes of gender and knowledge, gender and social
justice, gender and science, and gender and discrimination. Special
consideration will be given to submissions concerning women in philosophy.
 For consideration, please submit a long abstract (500-1000 words) through
our website.

Presentations will be 20 minutes long and will be followed by a 20-minute
question and answer session. Additionally, we have scheduled a one-hour
round table discussion on women in the profession. This session is open to
all, but we especially hope for contributions from conference presenters.

Submission site: http://www.perspectivesongender.com
Submission Deadline: July 31, 2014

Conference Organizers: Ashley Dressel ([email protected]), Maura Priest
([email protected]), Cailin O’Connor ([email protected])

DuBois Review Issue on Intersectionality

DU BOIS REVIEW: SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH ON RACE, VOLUME 10 - ISSUE 02

INTERSECTIONALITY: MAPPING THE MOVEMENTS OF A THEORY

Table of Contents

INTERSECTIONALITY, Devon W. Carbado and Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw and Vickie M. Mays and Barbara Tomlinson

MOVEMENT INTERSECTIONALITY, Dorothy Roberts and Sujatha Jesudason

UNTANGLING THE RACIALIZATION OF DISABILITIES,  Alfredo J. Artiles

INTERSECTIONALITY AND SOCIAL EXPLANATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH, Averil Y. Clarke and Leslie McCall

HOW PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE IMPEDES INTERSECTIONAL THINKING, Phillip Atiba Goff and Kimberly Barsamian Kahn

POST-INTERSECTIONALITY, Sumi Cho

INTERSECTIONALITY UNDONE, Sirma Bilge

THE PROPERTIES OF CITIZENS, Tracy Robinson

PUBLIC TALES WAG THE DOG, Tricia Rose

UNSHACKLING INTERSECTIONALITY, Priscilla A. Ocen

BLACK MALE EXCEPTIONALISM?, Paul Butler

LESSONS STILL UNLEARNED, Luke Charles Harris

THE INTERSECTIONAL FIFTH BLACK WOMAN, Devon W. Carbado and Mitu Gulati

RACIALIZING POVERTY AND POOR RELIEF, Ramón A. Gutiérrez

THE COLORS OF SOCIAL CITIZENSHIP, Alice O'Connor

RACE, IMMIGRATION, AND PATTERNS OF INCORPORATION IN THE EARLY AMERICAN WELFARE STATE, Anthony S. Chen

Fall 2013 Symposium: Anderson on Integration

Symposium on Elizabeth Anderson's book The Imperative of Integration published here.

More than forty years have passed since Congress, in response to the Civil Rights Movement, enacted sweeping antidiscrimination laws in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. As a signal achievement of that legacy, in 2008, Americans elected their first African American president. Some would argue that we have finally arrived at a postracial America, but The Imperative of Integration indicates otherwise. Elizabeth Anderson demonstrates that, despite progress toward racial equality, African Americans remain disadvantaged on virtually all measures of well-being. Segregation remains a key cause of these problems, and Anderson skillfully shows why racial integration is needed to address these issues. Weaving together extensive social science findings--in economics, sociology, and psychology--with political theory, this book provides a compelling argument for reviving the ideal of racial integration to overcome injustice and inequality, and to build a better democracy.

Considering the effects of segregation and integration across multiple social arenas, Anderson exposes the deficiencies of racial views on both the right and the left. She reveals the limitations of conservative explanations for black disadvantage in terms of cultural pathology within the black community and explains why color blindness is morally misguided. Multicultural celebrations of group differences are also not enough to solve our racial problems. Anderson provides a distinctive rationale for affirmative action as a tool for promoting integration, and explores how integration can be practiced beyond affirmative action.

Offering an expansive model for practicing political philosophy in close collaboration with the social sciences, this book is a trenchant examination of how racial integration can lead to a more robust and responsive democracy.

 

Spring 2013 Symposium: Al-Saji on Veiling published

Find the Spring 2013 symposium here.

Alia Al-Saji. 2010. "The Racialization of Muslim Veils: A Philosophical Analysis."  Philosophy and Social Criticism 36(8): 875–902.

Paper abstract:

This article goes behind stereotypes of Muslim veiling to ask after the representational structure underlying these images. I examine the public debate leading to the 2004 French law banning conspicuous religious signs in schools and French colonial attitudes to veiling in Algeria, in conjunction with discourses on the veil that have arisen in other western contexts. My argument is that western perceptions and representations of veiled Muslim women are not simply about Muslim women themselves. Rather than representing Muslim women, these images fulfill a different function: they provide the negative mirror in which western constructions of identity and gender can be positively reflected. It is by means of the projection of gender oppression onto Islam, and its naturalization to the bodies of veiled women, that such mirroring takes place. This constitutes, I argue, a form of racialization. Drawing on the work of Fanon, Merleau-Ponty and Alcoff, I offer a phenomenological analysis of this racializing vision. What is at stake is a form of cultural racism that functions in the guise of anti-sexist and feminist liberatory discourse, at once posing a dilemma to feminists and concealing its racializing logic.

 

Hypatia Crossing Borders Issue

The Crossing Borders issue of Hypatia is now available at

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hypa.2013.28.issue-2/issuetoc

This issue includes many essays from our 2011 FEAST conference.  Wiley Blackwell is currently offering the articles for free.  Please visit the site and advertise it widely!

PIKSI 2013

PIKSI 2013 FEAST/APA

Philosophy in an Inclusive Key

A Summer Institute for Undergraduates

ROCK ETHICS INSTITUTE, THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY

August 3–August 10, 2013

Philosophy: Experience, Reflection, Transformation

Ellen K. Feder, Director, Associate Professor of Philosophy, American University

Guest Faculty: Linda Alcoff, Professor of Philosophy, CUNY

Brad Elliott Stone, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Chair, African American Studies, Loyola Marymount University

Mariana Ortega, Professor, Department of Philosophy, John Carroll University

Along with works in feminist, critical race, disability, and queer theory, students will read historical and contemporary philosophical texts that explore recurring human concerns and investigate the ways in which experience informs philosophical reflection. In addition, writing assignments, visiting lecturers, and mentoring will help students learn that their own perspectives matter to philosophy.

Participants will be named  Iris Marion Young Diversity Fellows.

Designed to encourage undergraduates from underrepresented groups to consider future study of philosophy, PIKSI emphasizes the on-going project of greater inclusiveness that is transforming the discipline, inviting students to be participants in the conversation. Undergraduate women or men from underrepresented groups such as African Americans, Chicano/as and Latino/as, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, LGBTs, economically disadvantaged communities, and people with disabilities are urged to apply. Transportation and lodging are provided. Stipends are awarded to all.

APPLICATIONS DUE: April 15, 2013

For more details see:  http://rockethics.psu.edu/piksi

Co-Sponsors: APA • FEAST • Penn State’s Rock Ethics Institute, College of The Liberal Arts, and Department of Philosophy• Iris Marion Young Diversity Scholars Fund.

2012 Institutional Co-Sponsors: Stony Brook University • Michigan State University • University of Washington • Ann Arbor Philosophers’ PIKSI Funding Initiative.

To download a flier for posting, please go to http://rockethics.psu.edu/education/piksi/