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Cosmopolitan Racism, Trump, and Philosophy (guest post by Bharath Vallabha)

The following is a guest post * from Bharath Vallabha, former assistant professor of philosophy at Bryn Mawr College.

“Trump is actually much more aligned with the dominant norms of academic philosophy in America than with the KKK”

That Philosophy Is A “Cushy Gig” Explains Some Of The Profession’s Problems

Philosophy is largely male, white, cis, straight, able-bodied—why? Well, maybe it has little or nothing to do with philosophy.

That appears to be the view of philosopher Albert Atkin (Macquarie), in response to Richard Marshall when he raises the topic of diversity in philosophy in an interview at 3:AM Magazine. (more…)

Data on Diversity in (mostly) US Philosophy

The American Philosophical Association (APA) has released a new report on its membership demographics over the past three years. Has philosophy become more demographically diverse during this period? It’s not easy to tell from the data.

(more…)

Anglo-American Philosophy: “A Site of White Supremacy”

“A perverse feature of American life is that calling a white person racist is allegedly a very wounding insult.”

That’s Lionel McPherson (Tufts), in a post currently up at Philosopher. I start with that quote because reflection on it might forestall some knee-jerk reactions to some of the other things McPherson says. It is worth noting the relative seriousness wi..

Philosophy and the Racial “Epistemic Horizon”

Looking back, I brought something special to those spaces that are predominantly white at Duquesne. And I don’t think that white philosophers can offer what I offered to those Black students and students of color. There is a certain discourse, certain assumptions, a shared discourse, a shared worldview, a shared style. There is also a certain understanding of where ..

Diversity in Philosophy: Is the Problem Lack of Pre-College Exposure?

Recall these figures from “What is the State of Blacks in Philosophy?” by Tina Fernandes Botts, Liam Kofi Bright, Myisha Cherry, Guntur Mallarangeng, and Quayshawn Spencer: though blacks in the U.S. make up over 13% of the general population, they make up just 1.32 percent of the total number of people professionally affiliated (as grad students or faculty) with U.S..

Managing Classroom Discussions of Race and Police

A Daily Nous reader sends in a question concerning classroom discussions of recent events and the controversial and sensitive subjects they involve: (more…)

Police Shootings of Blacks in the U.S.; What Can Philosophers Do or Say in Response?

News from the past week:

Philosophy Degrees: How Many Are Awarded, And To Whom?

Humanities Indicators, a project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has released new degree-specific data on various humanities subjects, including philosophy. Here are some of the findings. All data and images below are from the Humanities Indicators site. (more…)

Penn State’s Efforts at Diversifying Philosophy

Five black women earned Ph.D.s in philosophy from Penn State this year, according to an article at The Chronicle of Higher Education (currently paywalled) that looks at the efforts the philosophy department there has been making to diversify philosophy.

The Chronicle reports that:

According to the latest federal data, of the 370 American citizens and permanent..

Demographic Data on U.S. Philosophy Faculty

Trends show a slow decrease in the extent to which U.S. full-time philosophy faculty at four-year institutions is male and white, according to data obtained from the National Center for Education Statistics by Eric Schwitzgebel (UC Riverside) and posted at The Splintered Mind:

Gender data:

1988: philosophy*: 91% male (vs. 75% for all fields).
1993: philosophy..

Philosopher to Sue NYC Police for 4th Amendment Violation

Damion Scott, a PhD student in philosophy at SUNY Stony Brook and an adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, claims his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches was violated, as was a city code against racial-profiling, by two New York City police officers, according to an article in The New York Times (via Shelley Tremain at Discr..

Bias, Subjectivity, and Superficiality in Philosophy

The philosophy profession in the United States is overwhelmingly male and white. What explains this? In an essay in The Los Angeles Times, Myisha Cherry (UI Chicago) and Eric Schwitzgebel (UC Riverside) offer an explanation:

One of the main causes of homogeneity in philosophy, we believe, is subjectivity and bias in the evaluation of philosophical quality.

They ..

King Award Recipient: “Neither thrilled nor honored”

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports (may be paywalled) this morning that Naomi Zack, professor of philosophy at the University of Oregon, is the recipient of an award from her university in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. The story made the Chronicle for Zack’s reaction, in which she expresses gratitude for the award but is “neither thrilled nor honored” to r..

A Response to Brian Leiter from the Margins (guest post by Christopher Lebron)

The following is a guest post * by Christopher Lebron, assistant professor of philosophy and African American studies at Yale University.

A Response to Brian Leiter from the Margins
by Christopher Lebron

Take a look around you. It’s a new day. Campuses around the country have put the world on notice that there is no last place of refuge for marginalization. Ap..

Georgetown Philosophy Dept Supports Student Protestors (Updated)

Students at Georgetown University have staged a sit-in at University President John (“Jack”) DeGioia’s office, calling for, among other things, a frank discussion of how Georgetown benefited from slavery, as well as the renaming of a building currently called Mulledy Hall. Christina Cauterucci at Slate writes:

At the center of the students’ grievances is Mulledy ..

Missouri Philosophy Issues Statement on Controversy over Racist Incidents (two updates)

The University of Missouri’s governing board is holding a meeting this morning to decide how to respond to calls by students and others for its president, Tim Wolfe, to resign. The calls for Wolfe’s resignation follow a number of racist incidents at the university over the past few months and are a response to the perceived lack of a satisfactory response to these i..

Where Philosophy Is Missing

Some colleges have no philosophers. Some colleges have philosophers, but not many, yielding a very low philosopher-to-student ratio, particularly when compared to elite institutions or flagship state schools. Such colleges—which include many community colleges, state branch campuses, and historically black colleges and universities—seem to turn out very few stud..

Philosophers On Coates’s “Between the World and Me”

This installment of the Daily Nous Philosophers On series was organized by Janice Dowell (Syracuse).

Introduction
by Janice Dowell

In the midst of growing media coverage of police brutality and racial injustice in the United States, as well as increased attention to matters of race in the philosophical mainstream, the arrival of writer and journalist Ta-N..

Goswami Lawsuit Against DePaul to Proceed

Namita Goswami was denied tenure in the Department of Philosophy at DePaul University in the 2009-2010 academic year. She claimed that discrimination played a role in the decision and sued. Her story was covered a few years back in Inside Higher Ed:

“I was teaching exactly what I was hired to do and it was used against me,” said Goswami, a native of India who all..

Philosophers on the Charleston Massacre

About 9 p.m., the Bible study concludes. As the group prepares to share a concluding prayer, Roof suddenly stands, pulls out a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol and says he has come to kill black people. He shoots the Rev. Pinckney first, at near point-blank range. Simmons tries to protect the pastor, a father of two young children, but Roof shoots him multiple time..

Philosophers on Rachel Dolezal (updated)

Rachel Dolezal, “in recent years… has portrayed herself physically, and on social media platforms, as a woman of black African-American heritage. However, her parents, Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal, who are both white and live in the Troy/Libby area in Montana, their daughter is not African-American. They backed up the claim with a copy of their daughter’s birth cer..

The Philosophy of Passing

The story of Rachel Dolezal’s outing as a white woman (insert whatever scare quotes you think appropriate there) is being widely discussed all over the place, including, now, the philosophy blogosphere. I’ll be putting up a post comprised of contributions from several philosophers here by the end of the weekend, but in the meanwhile, Daniel Silvermint (Connecticut) ..

Diversity in Moral and Political Philosophy Journals

Alex Guerrero (U. Penn) looked at four leading journals in moral and political philosophy to see how they have been doing in terms of racial and ethnic diversity over the past decade. Some findings:

0.9% of authors 1.6% of editors are racialized as black
1.2% of authors and 0% of editors are Latina/Latino
4.9% of authors and 4.3% of editors are Asian
18.2%..

Intro Philosophy Books and Race

Nathan Nobis (Morehouse) writes in with a request:

I am seeking help with a small research project regarding race and philosophy. This project would be to (a) make a list of introductory philosophy and ethics textbooks and anthologies and (b) review those books to see what content they have regarding race. This is to find out what readings various anthologies con..

Philosopher Attributes Job Loss To Challenging White Hegemony (updated)

Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman, a research associate with a term appointment at University College London, is claiming that his contract was not renewed “because his plans to ‘put white hegemony under the microscope’ were considered too much of a challenge to white-dominated academia,” according to an article in The Independent.

Coleman, who crosses out his surna..

Trouble in Baltimore

On April 12th, 2015, Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man, allegedly ran away from a Baltimore police officer on a bicycle who had made eye contact with him. He was caught, arrested for possession of a switchblade, and dragged into a police van. At some point between his arrest and his delivery at a trauma center 40 minutes later, Gray sustained severe injuries th..

Police Violence, Race, and…?

By now most of you will have heard about the two most recent publicized incidents of police killing unarmed black men in the United States. (Warning: the following videos are very disturbing.) One was a shooting that took place in South Carolina:

The other, even more horrifically, was the allowing of a police dog to maul to death a New Jersey man who had alread..