Summer Series #4: Harvard

Each week this summer, we'll be highlighting exciting MAP events from the last academic year. This week, two events at Harvard by Cartographer Patricia Marechal. 

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Taller Diálogo de Filosofía en Español/ Workshop of Philosophy in Spanish

This bilingual event featured five Spanish speakers who work and study in Philosophy departments in American Universities and five bilingual commentators. Talks and comments were in Spanish, but a handout in English was provided and discussions were in both English and Spanish. The goal was to offer a sample of the diversity of the work done by Spanish-speaking philosophers who are in the dominantly English-speaking world and explore the richness of Analytic work done in different languages. By discussing philosophical work in English and Spanish simultaneously we can test our theories for linguistic and conceptual parochialism. Other goals were to develop a sense of shared experiences for members of underrepresented groups in mainstream philosophy, and establish a community of support to deal with challenges and difficulties faced by linguistic minorities in academic philosophy.

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Myisha Cherry, "Black Rage and the Anger Police: A philosophical look at Lauryn Hill, belle hooks, and Audre Lorde's account and defense of moral anger"

Our Harvard-MAP guest-speaker for the Fall term was the talented and inspirational Myisha Cherry, who presented for us a talk centered on the legitimacy and appropriateness of experiencing anger in situations of racial oppression. Myisha defended the productive role of moral anger to end situations of injustice. The event took place in the Philosophy Department, in our regular colloquia room. It attracted around 50 people, including professors from the Philosophy Department at Harvard, and both Harvard and MIT graduates and undergraduates from different departments. The talk was followed by a reception and party where attendees and the speaker continued the discussion in an informal way. In the wake of the events in Ferguson and Baltimore, Myisha's talk was Harvard-MAP's attempt to elicit discussion about pressing social issues in our philosophical community.