Diversity

Error message

  • Deprecated function: The each() function is deprecated. This message will be suppressed on further calls in _menu_load_objects() (line 579 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/menu.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6600 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).
  • Deprecated function: implode(): Passing glue string after array is deprecated. Swap the parameters in drupal_get_feeds() (line 394 of /var/www/drupal-7.x/includes/common.inc).

Educational Gag Orders, etc. in the US

Published by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 29/02/2024 - 1:11am in

What are state legislatures across the United States doing to limit academic freedom and otherwise interfere in education?

You can see a state-by-state breakdown of existing and pending legislation on a sortable table here. The table was created by the PEN America Foundation.

It lists “educational gag orders” and other types of legislation.

If you click on the tab labeled “Other Higher Ed Bills of Concern” you’ll see a table that starts like this:

It would be good to hear from those in states in which some of these bills have been introduced or made into law about their effects on their colleges and universities, and how their administrations are responding.

 

The post Educational Gag Orders, etc. in the US first appeared on Daily Nous.

Learning to Teach Philosophy You Don’t Already Know

Published by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 28/02/2024 - 5:17am in

You may occasionally think about a topic you think you should add to a course you teach, but put off doing so because you don’t believe you know enough about it to teach it well.


[Starr Hardridge, “Black Snake” (detail)]

The preparation required could be significant, the subject could be challenging, and, in some cases, the materials and ideas might be from a philosophical tradition you’re not familiar with.

That last kind of obstacle is the focus of the NEWLAMP series.

NEWLAMP is the Northeast Workshop to Learn About Multicultural Philosophy. Initiated in 2022, it consists in week-long residential workshops that are “designed to give philosophy teachers the tools to approach, and successfully integrate” philosophy from traditions and regions underrepresented in mainstream U.S. philosophy curricula.

Each summer’s workshop has had a different focus. This year, the topic is “contemporary issues in Native American, Indigenous and Land-Based social and political philosophy. The curriculum will center on 5 key concepts in Indigenous resistance work: Sovereignty, Land, Decolonization, Indigenous Feminisms, and Cultural Reclamation.” You can learn more about it here.

NEWLAMP is being put on this summer as an NEH Institute for Higher Education Faculty at Northeastern University, and is being coordinated by Candice Delmas (Northeastern).

Up to 20 faculty will be accepted into the program. Applications are due March 5th.

 

The post Learning to Teach Philosophy You Don’t Already Know first appeared on Daily Nous.

Labour ‘shuts out’ Black MPs and groups from ‘race equality’ launch

Published by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 07/02/2024 - 8:34am in

Black MPs and groups were ‘shut out’ of Keir Starmer’s ‘race equality’ launch last night. Several had expected to attend the event in Tottenham, but were not given the new location after Starmer and Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy cancelled the original meeting to avoid facing protesters eager to challenge them over their support for Israel’s war crimes.

Black paper The Voice has reported that:

Black MPs, community media and leading campaign groups were not invited, leading to accusations from party members we spoke to that the Labour party intentionally excluded them in a bid to censor opportunities to grill party leader Keir Starmer and equalities secretary Anneliese Dodds preventing any real scrutiny of the Race Equality Act plans which were launched back in 2020.

This appears to have left Doreen Lawrence, a Starmer supporter, as essentially the only Black attendee – and ensured that no Black MPs or activists who might have challenged Starmer and his equalities spokeswomen Anneliese Dodds about the lack of substance in their ‘plan’.

Diane Abbott, Britain’s first Black woman MP, dismissed Labour’s plan as ‘window dressing’:

The proposed Race Equality Act is just window dressing. The foremost Black media organisation, The Voice, was not invited to the launch and most Black MPs were excluded. This reveals the reality of where Keir Starmer’s Labour party really stands on fighting anti-Black racism.

Even the paper-thin plan is unlikely ever to come to fruition under habitual promise-shredder Keir Starmer.

Labour’s issues with Black people and other racialised groups under Keir Starmer go back to the beginning of his tenure, when he named an all-white ‘diversity panel’ and excluded Labour’s most senior ethnic minority staffer. Since then, the party has been embroiled in rampant Islamophobia, attacks on Black women MPs and other senior elected figures, wholesale deselection of Black councillors and blocking of Black candidates in areas with large Black communities and more, as well as disgraceful racism toward Gypsy Roma people and naming an entirely male, entirely white panel to select local authority election candidates.

The party has also done nothing to root out the embedded racism exposed by the Forde Report, which Starmer reluctantly commissioned under pressure, then ignored when he could no longer delay its publication.

Read the full story on The Voice here.

If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.

New APA Grant Winners

Published by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/02/2024 - 3:00am in

Tags 

Diversity

The American Philosophical Association (APA) has announced the winners of its latest round of grants.

A Diversity and Inclusiveness grant of $20,000 was awarded to the “Pluralizing Philosophical Languages and Cultures in the South Texas Borderlands” program. The grant for the program was written by Chris Gomez, Dahlia Guzman, Danny Marrero, Cynthia Paccacerqua, and Alex Stehn of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. They write:

Our project promotes diversity and inclusiveness in philosophy by supporting what we view as our students’ right to access Philosophical Bilingualism, Biculturalism, and Biliteracy (PB3). Situated in the deep south Texas borderlands as the second-largest Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in the continental United States, over 90% of our students are Hispanic or Latino/a/x and the majority are bilingual. Therefore, when we include our students in philosophy, that means including them as the bilingual and bicultural students they are and helping them develop philosophical biliteracy. To do this, our project will establish a learning community of seven Philosophically Bilingual, Bicultural, and Biliterate (PB3) faculty who will work together as a team to develop and regularly teach a rotation of ten Spanish (E) and Bilingual (X) PHIL courses, effectively pluralizing the philosophical languages and cultures of both our department and discipline as we seek to broadcast our efforts.

Nine grants were awarded via the APA’s Small Grant Fund. They went to:

  • Dialectic – Angela Barnes (ASU)
    The Dialectic is a High School Philosophy Summer Program at Arizona State University, started in 2021. The Dialectic brings in High School Students (ages 14-18) from all over the Phoenix Valley to participate in a community of inquiry. Each year, the instructors for The Dialectic choose a theme related to what is relevant in the lives of these students to show them how philosophy can be both practical and relevant. The Dialectic aims to not only expose students to philosophy, but to expose them to what it is like to be in an academic environment with others who desire to be there. Toward this end, we want to expand the program with issues of equity in mind, bringing in more students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds, including those groups that the Phoenix Metropolitan area is particularly well positioned to include – Latino/as and Urban Indigenous Peoples. ($1,800)
  • Does Philosophy Make Students Better Thinkers? – Michael Vazquez (UNC)
    Does studying philosophy help students to become better thinkers? The proposed project will use data collected by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) to investigate this question, examining traits like reflectiveness, open-mindedness, and critical thinking. HERI has a database with records from thousands of students at schools across the United States. These include records from the start of students’ first years in college and at the end of their graduating years. Using these data, we will compare philosophy majors with non-philosophy majors, examining changes in intellectual traits over the course of the college years. Hence, this project will provide solid and relevant evidence for assessing a common claim about the value of our discipline. Such evidence would be invaluable for those seeking to advocate for philosophy in higher education and beyond. ($2,725)
  • Engaged Political Theory for Our Americas: Philosophizing the Black and Spanish Pacifics – Thomas Donahue-Ochoa (Haverford)
    This project builds on recent efforts by the philosophical community to engage long-ignored voices, to democratize philosophy, and to philosophize neglected aspects of democracy in the Americas. We propose by it to contribute to engaged political philosophy, which spotlights the ideas of scholars in the Global South and at Minority-Serving Institutions, engages the world’s many sources of ideas and institutes, responds to the calls of social movements for ideas that they can use, and partners with the disinherited to combat injustices. We are a coalition of political philosophers coming from the newly-formed Engaged Political Theory Working Group and the Latin American Seminar for Political Philosophy. In this project, we plan to host a conference, held in Mexico City, on the philosophical impacts of seeing our Americas as shaped by Black Americans’ ventures in the Pacific, and by appreciating the key role played by Spanish America in Pacific history. ($3,000)
  • Latinx Philosophy Conference – Sergio A. Gallegos-Ordorica (John Jay)
    This proposal is for the 2024 Latinx Philosophers’ Conference. The first conference was organized by Latin American philosophy graduate students Mariana Noé, Ignacio Ojea, and César Cabezas at Columbia University in 2016. Since then, the conference has been held at Rutgers, Marquette, MSU Denver, and Temple University. This is a yearly conference that brings together Latinx Philosophers from all around the United States. The conference provides a space for Latinx philosophers to share their philosophical work, earn valuable conference-related experience, network with their peers, and establish mentorship relationships. The 2024 conference will be held at John Jay College in April. The keynote speakers are Carolina Sartorio (Rutgers) and Nelson Maldonado-Torres (U-Conn). ($2,400)
  • Mentor Observation Program (MOP) for Small Philosophy Departments – Jack D. Musselman (St. Edward’s) & David Gray (Buffalo)
    Faculty in small philosophy programs often lack access to effective feedback about teaching. Such feedback may come from faculty in other departments who are not familiar with prevailing practices for teaching philosophy, or from a very limited number of philosophy colleagues. We plan to offer faculty in small departments two semesters of support from mentors trained by the American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT). The mentor would remotely observe early-career faculty (tenure-track, visiting, lecturer, and adjunct or contingent) and provide structured feedback. Mentees would develop pedagogical tools to improve their teaching and have the opportunity to discuss their teaching with colleagues outside of their institution. ($4,000)
  • Philosophy of Mind DRL Blueprint Project – Clotilde Torregrossa (St. Andrews)
    The Diversity Reading List is an expanding online resource of texts written by under-represented authors. Among its projects is the Reading Group Blueprint which asks volunteers to create ready-made reading groups that focus on topics that are typically under-taught in philosophy curricula (e.g., Class, Colonialism, Race and Gender (CCRG), or non-Western philosophy). This allows students anywhere to take matters into their own hands and learn about these topics by following one of these blueprints, and organizing and leading their own reading group. Our proposal is to create three Blueprint on topics in philosophy of mind relating to CCRG. More specifically, we aim at creating blueprints on Chinese Philosophy of Mind, on Feminist Philosophy of Mind, and an all-female blueprint on Embodied Cognitive Science. ($2,625)
  • Re-Indexing the Diversity Reading List in Philosophy – Simon Fokt
    The Diversity Reading List in Philosophy (DRL) is seeking a small grant from the APA to implement a new indexing system for its website. Its current one is based on PhilPapers’s system. But, given lingering equality, diversity, and inclusivity issues within that system, we have developed a new system which improves in all of those regards and is also better catered to researchers and educators alike who are seeking to diversify their work and teaching. As proof of concept, we outlined this system in our paper, ‘Indexing Philosophy in a Fair and Inclusive Key,’ which was published by the Journal of the American Philosophical Association in April 2023. But, with the help of the APA, we would now like to take the next step: implementing it. ($2,000)
  • Social Philosophy Workshop – Yarran Hominh (Bard)
    The Social Philosophy Workshop brings together early career scholars who examine contemporary social and political issues in interdisciplinary fashion. It is held annually at different locations, bringing together participants from the local area with a core group of organizers. Papers are pre-read, with workshop time devoted to commentators introducing and responding to each paper, followed by general discussion. The inaugural Workshop on the theme of “Ontologies of Oppression, Solidarity, and Care” was held in 2022 at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and the second workshop (“Identity, Alienation, Emancipation”) was held at Harvard’s Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics. The 2024 Workshop will be held at Bard College and the 2025 Workshop will be held at Vassar College. The combination of inviting new, local participants to each workshop alongside the benefits of building on conversations from previous workshops has proved fruitful in fostering connections and exchanging ideas. ($1,700)
  • UA Little Rock Ethics and Philosophy Summer Academy – Jana McAuliffe (UA Little Rock)
    The UA Little Rock Ethics and Philosophy Summer Academy (EPSA) will bring up to 25 high school students to the UA Little Rock campus for five days of philosophical community, at no cost to the students. This educational camp aims to engage Arkansas High School students in sustained, collaborative philosophical study. Students will be introduced to a variety of basic philosophical and ethical concepts and develop skills in critical thinking, construction and analysis of arguments, and engagement with philosophical issues in contemporary society. The curriculum will include philosophy seminars and an Ethics Bowl workshop led by experienced UA Little Rock philosophy faculty and experienced High School Ethics Bowl coaches from Central High School in Little Rock. This is a new initiative, but it builds off of our eleven years of organizing the Arkansas High School Ethics Bowl. ($5,000)

The APA’s own announcement of the awards is here.

The post New APA Grant Winners first appeared on Daily Nous.

Diversity Reading List Dollar-Matching Fundraiser

Published by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 01/02/2024 - 12:39am in

The Diversity Reading List (DRL), which gathers and organizes philosophical texts written by authors from groups that have typically been underrepresented in philosophy so as to make it easier for others to make use of them, and puts together reading group blueprints on various topics, is currently running a fundraiser with the Marc Sanders Foundation.

The Foundation is offering dollar-matching on all donations of $2000 and less (so if you donate $100, Sanders will donate $100).

DRL managers Simon Fokt and Clotilde Torregrossa write that donated funds will contribute towards the ongoing work of maintaining and developing the DRL, including:

  • Compensation for editors and managers
  • Website development costs
  • Ongoing costs, including web hosting and promotion
  • Putting on events
  • Pursuing research projects
  • Creating teaching materials such as Reading Group Blueprints.

The also note the option of institutional memberships:

We encourage universities, societies, journals and other institutions to send professional contributions of any value to the DRL, to be received as professional dues for your institution’s supporting membership in the DRL. To recognise substantial support of $500 or more a year, the DRL will:
• Feature the donating institution on our official supporters list for a year
• Invite the donating institution to list their support for the DRL in any relevant promotional materials, publications or reports.
• Deliver a workshop on the topic of curriculum diversification at the donating institution (subject to staff availability).

You can donate via this page.

 

The post Diversity Reading List Dollar-Matching Fundraiser first appeared on Daily Nous.

Netflix Revives the Genre of the “Blaxploitation” Film to Attract Black Subscribers

Published by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 19/12/2023 - 12:00am in

As a genre, Blaxploitation films were often morally ambiguous: though made for and by Black filmmakers and audiences, and sometimes depicting a kind of dead-end domestic colonialism, the films often normalized misogynistic treatment of Black women and uncritical ideals of Black capitalism....

Read More

The Rise of English as the Global Lingua Franca of Academic Philosophy (guest post)

Published by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 27/11/2023 - 10:00pm in

“We think it is more or less inevitable at this point that English will be the global lingua franca of academic philosophy for the foreseeable future. We also think it is for the most part a good thing. But it has also produced some problems…”

In the following guest post, Peter Finocchiaro (Wuhan) and Timothy Perrine (Rutgers) argue that “the rise of English as the global lingua franca of academic philosophy might lead to several epistemic goods being unjustly distributed in our community, including credibility, education, and the standing to speak.”


The Rise of English as the Global Lingua Franca of Academic Philosophy
by Peter Finocchiaro and Timothy Perrine

Academic philosophy is a global institution. Nearly every country has universities with philosophy departments. Philosophy journals are read around the world. And many philosophers grow up in one country, get a PhD in another, work in a third, and have students who come from a fourth. Like many global institutions, academic philosophy has increasingly relied on English as a shared language for communication—as a global “lingua franca”. When a Finnish philosopher meets a Colombian philosophy at a conference in Japan, they will likely do philosophy in English.

We think it is more or less inevitable at this point that English will be the global lingua franca of academic philosophy for the foreseeable future. We also think it is for the most part a good thing. But it has also produced some problems for our community—problems that we think need to be analyzed and addressed so that philosophy can be more inclusive.

To get a sense of the kinds of problems we have in mind, consider the following case. A philosopher is fluent in English, having learned it as a second language. Their academic research consists in reading and writing in English. But a recent referee report complains that their paper is “not idiomatic” (even though the referee doesn’t identify a single passage that is unclear, disorganized, or obscure) and requests that the philosopher have their paper checked by a “native” speaker of English. So, to appease the referee, the philosopher reaches out to a “native” English speaking colleague. Both philosophers then spend some time trying to guess what’s not “idiomatic” so that the language can be “fixed” and the paper can be published.

Maybe this sort of thing hasn’t happened to you. But it’s almost certainly happened to someone you know or someone that you’ve read. It has happened several times to our coworkers and friends.

In a new paper of ours, we argue that these problems are instances of language-related injustice. The paper is part of a new special issue of Philosophical Psychology on understanding bias. Thanks to the generous support of Lex Academic, it is freely accessible here for 12 months as the winner of the Lex Academic® Essay Prize for Understanding Linguistic Discrimination.

As we argue in the paper, in the above case the philosopher gets labelled as a “non-native” speaker of English and is held to certain linguistic norms set by a “native” English speaking community. But satisfying those norms is unnecessary for understanding their paper. We analyze this and other cases using the framework of epistemic injustice, specifically distributive epistemic injustice (though we think there can be other frameworks that are also useful). We argue that the rise of English as the global lingua franca of academic philosophy might lead to several epistemic goods being unjustly distributed in our community, including credibility, education, and the standing to speak.

At the end of our paper, we consider some proposals for dealing with these. They are:

1A: Increase assistance with English—journals should provide English-language services such as proofreading at no cost to the author.

1B: Abandon “readability” standards—journals should stop evaluating submissions on the basis of “readability”, including how “idiomatic” the English is as well as its “flair” or “style”.

2A: Diversify the canon—philosophers (and journals) should engage with work from a wide range of traditions, not just the mainstream Western canon.

2B: Expand the SEP—articles written for the SEP should be translated into other languages and/or the SEP should commission original entries in other languages.

3A: Increase non-native English speaker representation—editorial boards of journals, admissions committees of graduate programs, etc., should include more non-native speaking philosophers.

3B: Increase cross-linguistic representation—journals should publish material that spotlights non-English language philosophy, especially that which is produced in non-Anglophone countries.

Readers may recognize some of these proposals. In 2021, Filippo Contesi created the Barcelona Principles for a Globally Inclusive Philosophy, which was discussed on Daily Nous here, with related discussion here. Contesi’s Principle 3 is almost identical to our Proposal 3A, and Principle 1 is very similar to our Proposal 1B.

In our paper, we briefly argue that the B proposals are better than the A proposals. As we see it, Proposal 1A is likely to just reinforce unnecessary linguistic norms that privilege native speakers; a better alternative, as expressed by Proposal 1B, is to abandon the enforcement of those linguistic norms. Proposal 2A is admirable and in general we favor diversifying the cannon. But we doubt it would do much to address the linguistic injustices we are worried about. A better alternative, as expressed by Proposal 2B, is to make current high-quality research more accessible to people from different linguistic backgrounds. Proposal 3A is similarly admirable, but non-native speakers are likely already overburdened with administrative tasks. A better alternative, as expressed by Proposal 3B, is to increase the representation of current research from philosophical communities working in languages other than English.

Maybe our evaluation of these proposals isn’t exactly right. We’re open to being corrected about that since an adequate evaluation should rely on a complex balance of empirical facts, personal experiences, and communal structures that we can’t claim to be experts in. We’re more interested in bringing greater attention to the conversation that Contesi and others have started: what should be done about the problems caused by English becoming the global lingua franca of academic philosophy? Indeed, since the both of us are “native” speakers of English, we’re eager to hear more from others, especially “non-native” speakers.

So let us know what you think of these proposals, and let us know what you think about other proposals that we haven’t mentioned. Additionally, we’d be interested in hearing about people’s experiences that don’t neatly fit into the cases we give above or in the full paper. At the end of the day, what we want is for academic philosophy to be more inclusive for all of its members around the globe.

The post The Rise of English as the Global Lingua Franca of Academic Philosophy (guest post) first appeared on Daily Nous.

This constituent’s glorious letter roasting Lammy over Gaza and careerism is priceless

Published by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 07/11/2023 - 12:38am in

Jessica Straker’s political and moral dismemberment of Starmeroid Tottenham MP is a masterclass as she demands he call for a ceasefire and then resign

Tottenham’s right-wing Labour MP David Lammy has been one of the most prominent faces attempting to excuse and justify Keir Starmer’s disgraceful support for Israel’s war crimes against Gazan civilians. He has also been one of the most eager to enjoy corporate junkets and donations.

And Jessica Straker’s decision to write to Lammy, under a heading of ’23 years of disappointment’, about his appalling record is a master-class in political and moral dismemberment of the politically unfit and morally vacuous – and even better when she tweeted it:

23 years of disappointment

Dear Mr Lammy MP

You have been my MP out of reluctance since the death of Bernie Grant – who was a family friend, with my grandfather being one of the pallbearers at his funeral. Your brother, my uncle Karl, is also a long-standing family friend and is Godfather to my sisters. My family attends St. Philip The Apostle. I have lived in Tottenham all my life and have been disappointed with you as an MP since before I could vote. Bernie Grant has been consistently spinning in his grave for the past 23 years.

You once told my teenage friend, a young black girl from White Hart Lane to not bother pursuing a career as a lawyer at university when she came to you for inspiration and

advice. She is now an award-winning Barrister at a leading chambers. That was my first personal understanding of you in relation to my own network.

So, from a young age I have learnt to ignore you – your politics, your suggestions, your views and perhaps ignorantly, your existence as my serving MP. I have voted for you in the past out of learned loyalty as a Caribbean person, and after that, as a means to avoid Conservatives getting into power. I have never voted for you because I want you as my mouthpiece. It has always been for the greater good (a good which has increasingly become a centrist malaise of purple politics), and I think you will find that many people have done the same.

Your comfortability within your seat is without merit and I believe deep down you know this. The only votes you can probably claim are that of the liberal-guilt afflicted gentrifiers who have been hoodwinked by your rebrands, soothing their disruption of the community by voting ‘Black’ as their shame at driving the prices up on houses along roads with names that make them uneasy after they block local commuters from driving down. You are a careerist, that is clear, and your alignment to Windrush, the diversity conversations that arose from BLM and your moments of condemnation for Grenfell had many of us remain silent – happy that for once your personal interests finally lined up with the community interests. But this current siding with Israel on genocide is abhorrent.

Your recent comment on BBC Radio 4 should have ended without the adage of ‘but’ and all that came after it.

Dropping six bombs on a refugee camp cannot be ‘legally justified’.

I know you identify as English, I sympathise with the sort of tokenism and self-devaluation you have had to do in order to get to where you are – but in turn know that all that has been a choice you didn’t have to make.

I don’t want a response from you, I want you to simply do better – in life. As a member of your constituency, I am asking you to call for a ceasefire and also to resign.

Regards,

Jessica Straker
Casting Director
www.jessicastraker.com

Ms Straker, we salute you. Now will a Holborn and St Pancras constituent please do the same for the Kid Starver?

SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.

If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.

Using AI for social benefit – WeNet and community focused social media

Published by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 01/11/2023 - 10:03pm in

The internet has proven to be a successful mechanism at finding social and cultural commonalities across space and time, but what would an internet based on highlighting diversity look like and what social dynamics would this create? Reporting findings from the WeNet study, George Gaskell, Amalia de Gotzen, Amarasanna Ganbold, Sally Stares, Katharina Durmeier and Miriam Bidoglia discuss how … Continued

Sensitivity Reading Services for Philosophers and Others

Published by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 26/10/2023 - 11:56pm in

Lex Academic, the editing firm founded by philosophers Louise Chapman and Constantine Sandis, includes “sensitivity reading” among the variety of services it provides.

What is “sensitivity reading”?

Here’s an excerpt from how the people at Lex Academic describe it:

The conversation on diversity (or lack thereof) in publishing has highlighted the urgent need for nuanced and inclusive dialogue when representing marginalized individuals, communities, and their experiences…

[W]e work with expert readers who will address material with sensitivity, care, and scholarly rigour to draw attention to problematic, offensive, reductive, or misrepresentative content. This ensures that research is fair and accountable, steering the author away from infelicitous speech and unconscious bias that can result in peddling and perpetuating harmful stereotypes, tropes, or clichés. This ensures positive and engaged uptake of your work and ideas, thereby increasing the chances of a fruitful global conversation around it.

I think this is a great idea. Authors who want to ensure that they are engaging with their topics in responsible way and are not miscommunicating with their audiences can bring experts into the editing process to help them achieve these aims.

Readers may recall that when The Journal of Controversial Ideas was first floated, I proposed an alternative to its policy of allowing pseudonymous authorship. Such pseudonymity was to be offered by the journal, I noted, out of a “concern that some ideas don’t make it into scholarly journals because of their mere unpopularity, offensiveness, or political incorrectness, rather than any lack of intellectual merit” and to protect authors who might otherwise be discouraged from writing about such ideas “by the prospect of outraging others who have influence over their career prospects.”

I put forward an alternative: “make the publication of scholarly articles on controversial ideas less outraging.” How? By bringing those “others” into the publication process. I outlined one possible way of bringing “stakeholders” into reviewing, revising, and publishing. This was a way of protecting authors without the costs (to accountability, credit, and intellectual history) of pseudonymity. (The idea turned out to not be very popular with the commenters on that post and a follow-up post that addressed some criticisms of it.)

Sensitivity reading services may accomplish the same thing, giving authors more confidence as they tread into controversial waters and risk offending others, and receipts (literally!) that they’ve at least taken steps to offend responsibly.

The post Sensitivity Reading Services for Philosophers and Others first appeared on Daily Nous.

Pages