Spring 2023 Upcoming Events

The Ethics of Incarceration

Panel discussion: Dr. Emily Humbert, Dr. Jennifer Schlosser, Mr. Jonathan Robinson and Mr. Darryl Gay
Date: Thursday, January 19th, 2023
Time: 4:30 pm
Location: Edwards, Room 256

Abstract:
Dr. Emily Humbert, Visiting Assistant Professor in Philosophy, Dr. Jennifer Schlosser, Assistant
Professor of Sociology and Director of the CCU Incarcerated VOICE Initiative, along with
co-panelists and Incarcerated VOICE Initiative community members Mr. Luis Rodriguez, and
Mr. Roderick Gordon, will discuss the realities of incarceration in America considering issues of
ethics, human rights, and the prison reform and abolitionist movements. Mr. Jonathan Robinson and Mr. Darryl Gay will provide their personal narratives of experience with the criminal justice system and incarceration, contributing to the discussion their expertise and unique perspectives on justice involved individuals in today's American corrections system. 

Hurston's Secret Laughter: Contributions to African American Thought

Speaker: Lindsey Stewart
Date: Thursday, February 23, 2023
Time: 4:30 pm
Location: Edwards, Room 256

Abstract:
What is Black joy and how is it achieved? The history of African-American writing through folklore reveals an interesting answer. In a 1943 letter to Alaine Locke, Zora Neale Hurston suggests that if her research on ‘conjure’ was taken up philosophically, it would offer "something enduring for the world." In this talk, I consider what Hurston's conjure material might offer to African-American philosophy today. Focusing on her famous essay, "High John de Conquer," I argue that two special contributions emerge: a critique of abolitionist discourse and a political tradition of black joy, both major themes of my new book, The Politics of Black Joy.

Claudia Jones' Idea of 'Triple Oppression' and the Interrelation of Race, Gender, and
Class

Speaker: Vanessa Wills
Date: Thursday, March 16th, 2023
Time: 4:30 pm
Location: Edwards, Room 256

Abstract:
Trinidadian-born Claudia Jones was an immigrant to the United States who engaged in socialist and anti-racist organizing in the U.S. from the 1930s through the 1950s, until her deportation to the UK, where she remained active until her death in 1964. Among Jones’s most important contributions is the notion of “triple oppression.” This concept describes how the oppression of working-class Black women--as women, as Black, and as workers--makes them particularly ripe for economic exploitation. She also shows how anti-Black racism paradoxically harms white workers, and sexism against women similarly also harms working-class men by frustrating the struggle against all oppression and exploitation. In this talk, I show how the concept of “triple oppression” disproves the common presupposition that class-based analyses are incompatible with coherent and effective approaches to understanding and resisting identity-based oppression.

Complaining as a Skill, a Duty, and a Virtue

Speaker: Kathryn Norlock
Date: Thursday, April 13th, 2023
Time: 4:30 pm
Location: Edwards, Room 256

Abstract:
My aim in this talk is to mount a case for the goods of complaining, and against the view that it’s bad if it “doesn’t solve anything.” I argue for gloriously wasting (some) time and indulging (some) feelings, because at base, skillful complaining seems to me to be a relational activity for the purposes of reducing one’s isolation. We can feel alone in a crowded world. I want to show that one can, and at times should, complain so that one is not alone. I also argue that one’s own complaint is called for, even a duty, when it can ameliorate the isolation of others. But I won't be recommending complaining all the time. Instead, I will argue that complaining is a virtue in a nonideal world.