At the Central APA in February 2021, MAP International will be running a Group Session on Public Philosophy and Activism. We are inviting submissions for brief, 5-10 minute presentations on the topic of public philosophy and activism. The session is scheduled for Saturday, February 27, 10:10am-1:10pm Central Time, and will take place virtually. The session keynote is Olufemi Taiwo (Georgetown).

Speakers have the option to present live at the session, or to pre-record their presentations (giving speakers the opportunity to incorporate video footage, music, and other media into their presentations). Possible topics for presentation include but are not limited to:

• The importance of public philosophy
• Strategies and formats for public philosophy and community engagement
• The unique role that philosophy can play in activism
• Experiences in public philosophy and activism
• How public engagement can inform the practice of philosophy

Submissions can be made using this Google form. The application is not intended to be selective -- we plan on accepting as many speakers as our session time allows. The deadline for submissions is Friday, January 15. We will notify speakers by January 25.

Please send any questions and comments to mapforthegap@gmail.com. We look forward to reading your submissions!

Next installment of Sustainability in Philosophy Forum on Climate Change and Racial Justice will be held on Zoom on Monday, October 19. In the midst of heartbreaking and outrageous racial injustice around the world, this year presents a big opportunity for all of us to stand against racism, environmental and otherwise, and to merge environmental efforts with movements for racial justice more effectively than has been done so far. This forum will be a chance for us to come together as philosophers around these issues, and to think together about what we can do as philosophers within and outside our field. The forum will be at 10:30am-noon Eastern USA & Canada time; this somewhat earlier than usual time makes it more feasible for philosophers in Asia to join.

At the beginning of the forum, Olúfẹmi Táíwò, Gisele Secco, and Nora Mills Boyd will each speak for several minutes about their recent efforts and experiences related to climate change and racial justice, and/or about what they think would be good for philosophers to think about and do in the context of climate change and racial justice. We'll then invite any philosophers of color who are present and have not yet spoken to speak briefly if they would like to. And then we'll have open discussion for the rest of the forum. 

If you have time, we suggest taking a look at these optional short pieces to get discussion going: one on colonialism as cause of environmental crisis, a recent Sierra Club statement, and our own statement of solidarity with racial justice movements.

If you would like to join, please send an email to philosophersforsustainability@gmail.com, mentioning that you are a MAP member.

Minorities and Philosophy (MAP) will be hiring two organizers to help run MAP International. MAP is a collection of students in philosophy departments that aims to examine and address issues of minority participation in academic philosophy. It is currently comprised of over 140 chapters worldwide and continues to grow and expand.

The role of International Organizers is largely to facilitate the success of MAP chapters and oversee the development of the larger organization. Thus, responsibilities include: meeting regularly with the other International Organizers (roughly twice a month), making decisions regarding the growth of MAP regions and projects, coordinating with outside organizations (like the APA and funders), responding to chapter funding requests, updating the website and social media pages, advertising events, collating lists of chapter activities, touching base with chapter organizers, and more. 

Additionally, MAP International Organizers work on projects meant to set the agenda for important interventions on behalf of marginalized groups in philosophy (such as our project on service work in 2019-2020). In this capacity, Organizers have substantial freedom to propose and take up specific cause areas and are expected to be proactive. Some of the responsibilities associated with this dimension of the role include: collecting resources, running surveys, collecting input from MAP members, writing reports and blog posts, producing and distributing infographics and other social media materials, and hosting APA Group sessions (and sessions at other conferences). Organizers receive a modest honorarium for their work.

We especially encourage Black, Indigenous, and people of color to apply to these positions.

Criteria for applying:

• Must be a current graduate student
• Will be able to be an active organizer for two years 
• If you are entering your fourth year, you may still apply, but your statement should address your plans for the next two years, as MAP organizers must be current graduate students
  • Though the default term is a two-year term, organizers are appointed for a year at a time with the option to renew after review by the Board of Trustees and the (co-)Director(s).
• Must have previous organizing experience relevant to MAP, including but not limited to MAP chapter involvement Additional organizing experience (e.g. in non-profit and non-academic organizations, departmental service, union organizing, etc.) is a plus.

To apply, complete and submit this Google Form by July 31, 2020.

We will notify all applicants by August 10, 2020. Start date is approximately September 1, 2020. If you have any questions, please contact us at mapforthegap@gmail.com. 

The PPE Society, Marc Sanders Foundation, and Hi-Phi Nation are hosting a Zoom panel discussion on Protesting Police and Policing Protests. The panelists are Ekow N. Yankah, Michele Moody-Adams, Brandon del Pozo, and Jason Brennan. 

June 17, 6:00-7:00pm EDT 

Register at https://ppesociety.org/protesting-police-and-policing-protests

Environmental Philosophy Teaching Resources Project:
Call for Syllabi, Assignments, Class Activities, and other Pedagogical Resources


As part of the ISEE Mentoring Initiative, ISEE would like to renew and expand its online teaching resources.  We seek syllabi, assignments, community-based learning projects, and class activities related to environmental philosophy, environmental ethics, environmental justice, and cognate fields.  Our goal is to provide resources for stand-alone environmentally-focused classes, as well as for environmentally-related units in broader courses (e.g., a section on climate refugees in a political science class, a case study on the Standing Rock Sioux resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline in an Indigenous studies course, a discussion of environmental risk assessment in an epistemology class, etc.).


ISEE is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we specifically seek teaching resources that support and foreground engaged and inclusive pedagogies.


Some specific kinds of resources we seek include (but are not limited to):

• Introductory level (survey) syllabi for courses focused on environmental ethics, environmental justice, and environmental philosophy
• Special topics syllabi for a variety of courses, such as climate ethics, food ethics, animal ethics/animal studies, intergenerational ethics, environmental political philosophy, philosophy of ecology, etc.
• Graduate course syllabi related to environmental ethics, environmental justice, and environmental philosophy
• Environmentally-related units/elements for non-environmentally focused classes
• Writing assignments
• In-class exercises
• Community-based learning projects and other interactive projects
• Team-taught syllabi or collaborative teaching resources
• Writing workshop materials
  
  

Contributions will be used to develop a curated collection of materials that will be freely available on the ISEE website. An ISEE-convened committee will review and organize the materials before posting. 


Please submit teaching materials by April 30, 2020 via the following Google forms link: https://forms.gle/oSBuueUweBL5c6tGA
The submission form includes a request for a few keywords and a short description of each contribution (e.g., “This is a topically-organized syllabus for an introductory course in environmental ethics with a climate ethics/climate justice theme”; “This assignment asks students to link their lived experience to readings on attachments to place.”).  Please fill out a separate form for each submission.
 
Note: if you would like to submit materials and lack a Google account or don’t wish to create one, please send your materials, along with keywords, description, and your name, email, and affiliation, to mhourdequin@coloradocollege.edu, with ISEE Teaching Resources as the subject line.


Questions about the project can be directed to Simona Capisani, ISEE Mentoring Director (scapisan@uci.edu) or Marion Hourdequin, ISEE Vice-President (mhourdequin@coloradocollege.edu).

MAP presents
SETTING BOUNDARIES: PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL

Speaker
Sarah Gorman (Vanderbilt)

Panelists
Lisa Miracchi (Pennsylvania)
Mary Kate McGowan (Wellesley)
Elise Woodard (Michigan)
Robin Zheng (Yale-NUS)

Moderators
Carolina Flores (Rutgers)
Angela Sun (Michigan)

APA 2020 Central Division Meeting
Thursday, February 27, 9am-12pm

The 23rd Annual CUNY Graduate Student Philosophy Conference invites graduate students to submit their work engaging with philosophical topics and traditions that consider or bridge the analytic/continental divide. The analytic/continental division typically assumes contrasting notions of what philosophy ‘is’ and what it ought to be. The divide also describes the varying methodologies employed when we practice philosophy. Whether it refers to meta-philosophical commitments or strategies used, the divide can do exactly that – divide. When concerned with the nature of philosophy and how one ought to conceive of the practice the stakes can be high; when we ask, “What counts as philosophy?” we implicitly ask, “What doesn’t ‘count’ as philosophy?” This conference aims to explore issues that need to be explored by the philosophical community at large, especially when the legitimacy of certain practices are under scrutiny. The conference also aims to create a space where we can learn to ask better questions concerning the nature of our academic practices, the traditions we draw from, the methodologies we employ, and the topics we consider.
​
We are particularly interested in papers from all areas of philosophy that:

• explore the meta-philosophical or sociological questions concerning the analytical/continental divide without exclusionary border-policing. Is such a divide legitimate? What has motivated this divide? What are the advantages and disadvantages of maintaining the divide? How can we bridge or dismantle the divide? Etc.
• broadly engage with the question of "what can philosophy be?" How can philosophy establish fewer borders and more bridges?
• engage with philosophers (i.e. Rorty, Badiou, Williams, etc.), philosophical topics (i.e. race, gender, coloniality, etc.), and/or traditions (i.e. critical race theory, feminist philosophy, queer theory, postcolonial/decolonial theory, etc.) that have always or currently do bridge the analytic/continental divide, again without exclusionary border-policing.
• ​explore the analytic/continental divide in an interdisciplinary manner drawing from sociology, critical psychology, gender studies, race studies, literature, history, the arts, etc.

The conference is committed to providing a platform for marginalized persons and topics in the discipline. In answering some of the questions presented we highly encourage papers regarding, among other topics: critical race theory, feminist philosophy, queer theory, trans philosophy, and disabilities studies. Speakers from marginalized groups in the discipline are strongly encouraged to submit. Any abstracts that aim to discredit already marginalized philosophers or philosophies are strongly discouraged.

We are pleased to invite abstracts sufficiently in the spirit of the project theme of no more than 350 words, excluding references.
​
Abstracts should:

• Outline the paper’s principal argument(s).
• Give a good sense of the paper’s philosophical contribution(s).
• Be anonymized.​​

​The deadline for abstracts is January 25th, 2020. Anonymized abstracts should be e-mailed to 23rdcunygradconference@gmail.com. Please include with your submission a cover page that includes your name, affiliated institution, contact information, and title of paper.

Speakers who are accepted on the basis of their abstracts will have the option to submit their papers by an early deadline if they wish to have a commentator.

For more details, see the conference website.

MAP Presents
Distribution and Recognition of Service Work

Ariana Falbo (Brown University)
Sukaina Hirji (University of Pennsylvania)
C. Thi Nguyen (Utah Valley University)
Angela Sun (University of Michigan)

Moderated by Carolina Flores and Elise Woodard

APA Eastern Division Meeting
Thursday, January 10, 2020, 2:30pm-5:30pm

Facebook event page