We are very saddened to hear that Pamela Sue Anderson, a leading figure in feminist philosophy of religion has died. She, like Jean Grimshaw, was one of the founders of SWIP UK. The Oxford obituary is here.
Please feel free to share your thoughts and remembrances in comments.
Call for Poster Session—BIAS IN CONTEXT #4: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND STRUCTURAL EXPLANATIONS OF INJUSTICE
University of Utah, Salt Lake City
October 12 – 13 2017
***DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS, May 15***
THEME: What is the relationship between psychological and structural explanations of persistent social injustice?
This conference—the final in a series of four—considers recent empirical and philosophical work that frames social injustice in terms of individualistic psychological explanations. Such explanations appeal to phenomena such as prejudice, implicit bias, stereotyping, and stereotype threat, in order to understand persisting inequities in a broad range of contexts, including educational, corporate, medical, and informal social contexts (Valian 1997; Fricker 2007; Antony 2012; Saul, 2013; Madva 2016).
A key challenge to these explanations, and the discourses that incorporate them, maintains that the focus on individual psychology is at best obfuscatory of, and at worst totally irrelevant to, more fundamental causes of injustice, which are institutional and structural (Young 1990; Cudd 2006, Anderson 2010; Ayala 2015, Haslanger 2015). Yet structural explanations face difficulties accommodating the extent to which individual agency is implicated in those problematic structures or institutions. Nor are they well placed to articulate how individual agency might be directed towards changing these structures.
This conference series will generate more fully worked-out understandings of the interaction between these two kinds of explanations. It will also investigate the normative and practical implications of one’s explanatory mode on attempts to address injustices via institutional policy, interpersonal intervention, and collective action.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS:
CALL FOR POSTER PRESENTATIONS: There will be a poster session associated with conference, to be held on its first day. Up to eight participants will be invited to present their work. If you are interested in presenting, please submit an abstract of up to 1500 words on a theme associated with the conference, ready for anonymous review. We encourage submissions from postgraduate and early career researchers. We in particular welcome submissions from individuals who identify as members of under-represented groups. Note that we hope to invite researchers working in a wide range of fields, including black studies, disabilities studies, ethnic studies, gender studies, law, philosophy, psychology, and sociology.
For examples of papers/presentations within our theme, please see the programs from past conferences:
***Accommodation costs & registration for poster presenters will be covered. We may also be able to contribute a small amount to travel costs, but the amount (if any) is to be determined***
Abstracts should be prepared for anonymous review, and submitted via email by the 15th of May 2017. Submissions should be made to Louise Pederson, administrative assistant, at biasincontextutah@gmail.com.
More information go to our website: www.biasincontext4.weebly.com
Feminist Philosophers 