Philosophers Among New ACLS Fellows

The American Council of Learned Societies has announced its new class of fellows, and four philosophy professors are among them.

They and their projects are:

• Stephen C. Ferguson (North Carolina State University)
  “On the Black Side of Philosophy: Black Philosophers Confront Black Power and Communism”

Abstract: The Black Power Era, from the 1960s to the 1970s, is a period marked by the radical reimagining of Black identity, nationalism, and liberation. This project highlights the overlooked contributions of Black philosophers—academic and non-academic—during and after the Black Power Era. While cultural and political figures have dominated scholarly attention, this study foregrounds the philosophical voices who engaged with the era’s ideological ferment. The project examines how Black thinkers such as Eugene C. Holmes, William R. Jones, Adrian Piper, Charles Johnson, Cornel West, Charles Mills, Walter Rodney, Cedric Robinson, John H. McClendon and others grappled with the interwoven dynamics of racism, national oppression, class exploitation, and the contested relevance of Marxism. Through a dialectical analysis of their engagements with liberalism, conservatism, and revolutionary politics, this project reconstructs the complex theoretical landscape in which Black philosophy developed in response to the promises and failures of US democracy. Ultimately, the project contributes to contemporary debates about racism, democracy, and social change, challenging dominant paradigms and foregrounding Black philosophy as a vital site of critical theory and political imagination.

• Eric Godoy (Illinois State University)
  “Public Power: Ethical Energy and Democracy’s Role in a Just Transition”

Abstract: The transition to renewable energy is well underway and energy scholars have called for more engagement from normative fields to help guide a just transition. This project unites the normative, theoretical work of environmental ethics and politics with the empirical field of energy studies to defend an account of energy democracy, a transition framework that embraces democratic ideals—e.g., equity, transparency, and shared power. This framework best avoids reproducing the injustices of the fossil fuel era. Relatively few philosophers have written on energy transition justice. A careful conceptual analysis of democracy resolves some tensions in its often-contradictory ideals as well as reinforces the connection between democratization and justice. By contrast, alternative forms of nondemocratic power endemic to the fossil fuel energy system have given rise to a host of justice issues. A defense of democracy is crucial given the growing cries to bypass democratic procedures from technocrats and ecofascists.

• Desiree Valentine (Marquette University)
  “Reproductive Reparations: Justice and the Afterlives of Slavery”

Abstract: Contemporary US discourse on reparations focuses on the suppression of Black economic interests, but the harms of slavery are not exhausted by the labor expropriation of slaves and its concomitant wealth accumulation for white individuals and the United States. Reproductive oppression was constitutive of the institution of slavery, and its harms continue to reverberate today. This project therefore develops an account of reproductive reparations and argues that reparations platforms must center reproductive abuses, broadly construed. Reparative justice, it argues, must be reproductively minded and aim to bring about conditions of reproductive flourishing.

ACLS Fellowships provide up to $60,000 to support scholars for six to 12 months of full-time research and writing. 62 fellows were selected, from an applicant pool of over 2,300.

(ACLS notes that “After four years of restricting ACLS Fellowships to early-career scholars due to the impact of COVID-19, the 2024 competition was re-opened to scholars across all career stages. ACLS remains committed to devoting significant resources to early career scholars. Over half of 2025 ACLS Fellowships were awarded to early-career scholars, and nearly a quarter awarded to scholars who do not hold tenure-track faculty appointments.”)

You can see the full set of 2025 fellows here.