CALL FOR PAPERS & CREATIVE WORKS: "HOW IS THIS CONFERENCE PHILOSOPHY?" (MICHIGAN STATE)

“How is this conference philosophy?”: Women of Color and Philosophy
Michigan State University
March 17th-19th, 2017

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Mariana Ortega (John Carroll University)
Faculty Roundtable: Dr. Kristie Dotson, Dr. Xhercis Mendez, and Dr. Elena Ruíz
18th Annual Graduate Philosophy Conference

Call For Papers & Creative Works
The 18th Annual Graduate Philosophy Conference borrows its name and theme from Kristie Dotson’s “How is this paper philosophy?” Building on Dr. Dotson's paper, we hope to host a conference that celebrates and complicates the relationships between women of color and philosophy. We are interested in work of women of color in and out of professional philosophy and on the status of women of color in philosophy. Women of color theorists and theorizing have traditionally been excluded from the academic philosophy cannon and many of us have encountered gatekeeping in the form of questions like those spotlighted by Dotson. We aim to create a space where women of color graduate students and advanced undergraduates can come together to think critically, communally, and poetically about the state of philosophy as a discipline. We encourage contributions that are working with feminist, critical race, decolonial, transnational, disability, queer, trans, and Indigenous theories. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

● Metaphilosophical models and interrogations of the practices and climate of academic philosophy
● Philosophical pedagogy, social justice oriented pedagogy
● Uses and abuses of intersectionality
● Epistemologies of resistance and/or epistemic oppression
● Identity politics
● Epistemic oppression
● Transnationalism, migration, and/or refugee status
● Climate change and vulnerable populations
● Activism, political protest, and demonstration
● Coalition-building
● Respectability politics, politics of legitimization, academic gatekeeping.
● Embodied knowledges, affective knowledges, felt theory
● Incarceration, the carceral state, prison abolition
● Tensions with white feminisms
● Decolonial praxis, Indigenous Survivance, revitalization.
● Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldúa, Cherrie Moraga, Angela Davis, Maria Lugones, Kristie Dotson

In addition to paper presentations, we invite women of color philosophers to bring art, poetry, spoken word, dance, and/or song to share during presentation, to display at gatherings, or to perform during our Conference Open Mic.

Submission Guidelines:
Submissions should be sent to [email protected]. Please submit the following:
1. Cover Letter (1 page):
In this letter, we ask that you address:
i. A short biography
ii. How your paper or planned paper coheres with the themes of the conference?
iii. If applicable, please describe the creative work you are interested in sharing at the Open Mic and what, if any, relationship it has to your research interests.

2. Paper Abstract:
The paper abstract may be up to 500 words. Note that the final conference paper should not exceed 4,000 words.

3. Working-bibliography:
Please provide a working-bibliography of the sources you intend to use in your project.

Submission Deadline:
Please submit the cover letter, abstract, and working bibliography by Sunday, January 22nd, 2017. You will receive a notification of acceptance on Friday, January 27th, 2017.

If you have questions, please email [email protected].