Cats yes, feminism no: recall notice

I’d suppose that everyone knows about this, but I found out about it before Whole Foods did, though after I had stocked up there.  So in case you don’t know:

The recall lots involved in this voluntary recall are: Wellness Canned Cat Food (all flavors and sizes) with best by dates from 14APR 13 through 30SEP13; Wellness Canned Cat Food Chicken & Herring (all sizes) with 10NOV13 or 17NOV13 best buy dates.  A full listing of recalled lots can be found in the FDA recall bulletin at:
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm245108.htm

The problem is insufficient vitamin B and the results can be intestinal or neurological problems.  Hard to tell with my cats, but still … .

Graduate programs: UPDATE on philosophy of race, diverse?

A commenter asked recently what the progress is on compiling a parallel, to something like the women-friendly or feminist-supportive philosophy graduate programs, in philosophy of race or in high achievement in diversity.  I punted the question with a professorial ‘efforts are proceeding’ sort of answer, but it is too good a question to leave in the comments.

A few programs that take diversity to be central missions and/or provide robust opportunities for concerted work on race leap to mind, and commenters are invited to direct readers’ attention to others.  Please forbear from too much speculation if you really don’t know or have only third-hand impressions; bear in mind that prospective students genuinely want to know of the possibilities and your reasons for stating them.  Suggestions would be great for either MA or PhD programs, but if you can, specify whether the program you mention is one or the other.

The program in which my department coworkers and I have often taken an interest is the MA / PhD program at University of Memphis, which has strengths in both concerted attention to diversity (in faculty and students), and scholarship, especially with the addition of Bill Lawson and the ongoing participation of philosophers such as Sarah Clark Miller. 

Please feel free to add your own information about other programs in the comments.  Inquiring minds appreciate the answers!

UPDATE:  I contacted a few people to invite comment, and heard back happy news from the incomparable Linda Alcoff: 

The Pluralist’s Guide to Philosophy list I have been working on for over 2 years will shortly be up.  Everything is done, we are just waiting on our web design to finish.  So look for it in a month — it will  have lists on critical race philosophy, feminist philosophy, and more.

Thanks, Linda!  I’ll post a new announcement when it comes out.  Meanwhile, feel free to continue to contribute to students’ knowledge in comments, while we wait.  And stay tuned!

Wouldn’t have thought they were mutually exclusive

From here. (Thanks, J-Bro!)

Language and Mind, 60% female

Wow. (Maybe there are women interested in these things, after all._

First PLM Conference
Every two years PLM will organize a conference in the philosophy of language and philosophy mind area. The first PLM conference will take place at Stockholm University, Stockholm, 16-18 September 2011. A selected number of speakers will be asked to contribute a paper in a following special issue of Synthèse.

Keynote speakers will be:

* » Delia Fara, Princeton
* » Crispin Wright, NIP, Aberdeen (NIP) / NYU
* » Elisabeth Pacherie, Institut Jean-Nicod, Paris
* » Hannes Leitgeb, Munich
* » Genoveva Martí, ICREA and University of Barcelona

Query from a reader about teaching women authors

I’m currently teaching a mid-level philosophy class where the syllabus has just switched from exclusively male authors to exclusively female in the last few weeks. (I did not plan this, it has just been an artifact of moving from historical to contemporary literature.)

Since this has happened, I swear that the women in the course who did speak up before are speaking up more, and women who had not previously spoken are speaking up for the first time.

My not terribly diligent Googling yielded no results about this, and I don’t feel that I can completely trust my sense that this is happening, so I thought this would be the place to ask if others have noticed this or have anecdotes or (better) data bearing on this question. Is there reason to think female students participate more when discussing female authors?

Cordelia Fine Podcast

Listen here.

Cordelia Fine joins us from Melbourne, Australia to discuss her book: “Delusions of Gender: The Real Science Behind Sex Differences.” Sex discrimination is supposedly a distant memory, yet popular books, magazines and even scientific articles increasingly defend inequalities by citing immutable biological differences between the male and female brain. That’s the reason, we’re told, that there are so few women in science and engineering and so few men in the laundry room — different brains are just better suited to different things. Drawing on the latest research in developmental psychology, neuroscience, and social psychology, Fine sets out to rebut these claims, showing how old myths, dressed up in new scientific finery, are helping to perpetuate the sexist status quo.

(Thanks, Rob!)