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192Sotomayor's reasoningSouthern Journal of Philosophy 48 (1): 122-138. 2010.Justice Sonia Sotomayor was vilified for arguing that one's social identity can contribute positively to judgment or public reason. This paper considers and expands on Sotomayor's arguments, showing that identity is relevant to snap judgments and to sensation transference that affects how speakers are assessed. It further develops a hermeneutic account of identity that can make sense of its epistemic relevance without foreclosing individual variation.
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32ResponsePhilosophical Studies 177 (2): 311-320. 2020.In this response to the comments on my book, Rape and Resistance: Understanding the Complexities of Sexual Violation, I offer a futher elaboration of the crucial concept of sexual subjectivity put forward as a way to approach the normative evaluation of sexual practices. This concept makes possible a healthy pluralism without retreating to a facile libertarian view that would render consent sufficient to determine morally unproblematic sex. The concept of sexual subjectivity sanctions experiment…Read more
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31Linda Martín Alcoff: Real Knowing: New Versions of the Coherence TheoryContinental Philosophy Review 32 (1): 71-87. 1999.
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16Latino vs. HispanicPhilosophy and Social Criticism 31 (4): 395-407. 2005.The politics of ethnic names, such as ‘Latino’ and ‘Hispanic’, raises legitimate issues for three reasons: because non-political considerations of descriptive adequacy are insufficient to determine absolutely the question of names; political considerations may be germane to an ethnic name’s descriptive adequacy; and naming opens up the political question of a chosen furture, to which we are accountable. The history of colonial and neo-colonial conditions structuring the relations of the North, C…Read more
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23Philosophie und Race als IdentitätDeutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 67 (4): 589-603. 2019.In her article, Alcoff argues for the need to examine the reality of race philosophically. According to Alcoff, liberal notions of universality as well as the postmodern critique of essentialism make it difficult to address race and its ongoing significance in social life. By engaging with authors like Charles W. Mills and Paul Gilroy, Alcoff aims to show that it is possible to develop an account of race as social and historical reality without essentializing the category of race.
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12Khader’s minimalist, pluralist universalismJournal of Global Ethics 16 (3): 357-370. 2020.ABSTRACT Serene Khader’s effort to develop a decolonized approach to transnational feminism takes a helpfully nonideal approach. Much of decolonial theory has criticized universalism in order to espouse pluralism. Khader attempts to develop a form of minimalist universalism compatible with a significant dose of pluralism in regard to how we understand liberation from gender-based forms of oppression, and she effectively shows how the nonideal, meliorative approach can do this. I address three is…Read more
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596Latino vs. hispanic: The politics of ethnic namesPhilosophy and Social Criticism 31 (4): 395-407. 2005.The politics of ethnic names, such as ‘Latino’ and ‘Hispanic’, raises legitimate issues for three reasons: because non-political considerations of descriptive adequacy are insufficient to determine absolutely the question of names; political considerations may be germane to an ethnic name’s descriptive adequacy; and naming opens up the political question of a chosen furture, to which we are accountable. The history of colonial and neo-colonial conditions structuring the relations of the North, C…Read more
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28Fraser on Redistribution, Recognition, and IdentityEuropean Journal of Political Theory 6 (3): 255-265. 2007.This article analyzes Nancy Fraser's account of the contrasting social movements for recognition versus those for redistribution. In her most recent analysis, only those forms of recognition struggles that she equates with identity politics are subject to critique. I argue that identity politics does not have an inevitable logic to it that destines it to fracture, border patrol, internal conservatism, etc., and further that the very redistribution claims she proposes require identity politics.
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402Latino/as, asian americans, and the black–white binaryThe Journal of Ethics 7 (1): 5-27. 2003.This paper aims to contribute toward coalitionbuilding by showing that, even if we try tobuild coalition around what might look like ourmost obvious common concern – reducing racism –the dominant discourse of racial politics inthe United States inhibits an understanding ofhow racism operates vis-à-vis Latino/as andAsian Americans, and thus proves more of anobstacle to coalition building than an aid. Theblack/white paradigm, which operates to governracial classifications and racial politics inthe…Read more
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448Epistemic IdentitiesEpisteme 7 (2): 128-137. 2010.This paper explores the significant strengths of Fricker's account, and then develops the following questions. Can volitional epistemic practice correct for non-volitional prejudices? How can we address the structural causes of credibility-deflation? Are the motivations behind identity prejudice mostly other-directed or self-directed? And does Fricker aim for neutrality vis-à-vis identity, in which case her account conflicts with standpoint theory?
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71Discourses of Sexual Violence in a Global FrameworkPhilosophical Topics 37 (2): 123-139. 2009.In this paper I make a preliminary analysis of Western (or global North) discourses on sexual violence, focusing on the important concepts of “consent” and “victim.” The concept of “consent” is widely used to determine whether sexual violence has occurred, and it is the focal point of debates over the legitimacy of statutory offenses and over the way we characterize sex work done under conditions involving economic desperation. The concept of “victim” is shunned by many feminists and nonfeminist…Read more
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24Comparative EpistemologyPhilosophy East and West 69 (3): 849-856. 2019.Caring to Know by Vrinda Dalmiya is a remarkable, and remarkably original, work. It develops a significant extension of the care-ethical framework for epistemology, builds on as well as critiques Western feminist philosophy, and offers an original interpretation of the Mahābhārata's implication for epistemic norms. But perhaps most importantly, it invents an entirely original epistemology unlike anything, really, in English. The revolutionary dimensions of the book are clear from the beginning: …Read more
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56Adorno’s Dialectical RealismSymposium: Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy/Revue canadienne de philosophie continentale 14 (2): 45-65. 2010.The idea that Adorno should be read as a “realist” of any sort may indeed sound odd. And unpacking from Adorno’s elusive prose a credible and useful normative reconstruction of epistemology and metaphysics will take some work. But we argue that he should be added to the growing group of epistemologists and metaphysicians who have been developing post-positivist versions of realism such as contextual, internal, pragmatic and critical realisms. These latter realisms, however, while helpfully showi…Read more
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29Letters to the EditorProceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 72 (2). 1998.
Areas of Specialization
Epistemology |
Philosophy of Gender, Race, and Sexuality |
Continental Philosophy |
Philosophy of the Americas |
Areas of Interest
19th Century Philosophy |