Friday, April 29, 20223:00 – 5:00 pm
Fong Auditorium
110 Boylston Hall and streaming via Zoom (registration required)
(For the safety of all we're asking in-person attendees to mask. We will have spare masks on site.)
Philosophy and WGS welcome Black feminist philosophers, Kristie Dotson (U. Michigan) and Ayanna Spencer (U. Connecticut) for a dialogue exploring Black feminist epistemology and its relationship to politics. Professors Dotson and Spencer will discuss strategies for survival and criminalization in the context of sexual violence in the U.S.A.. Professor Susanna Siegel (Philosophy, WGS Standing Committee) will moderate.
The event will take place in a hybrid format, with Prof. Dotson on Zoom and Prof. Spencer on site. In-person participation limited to Harvard affiliates. The registration link for the Zoom webinar will be posted here during the week of April 18.
Kristie Dotson is University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor at the University of Michigan. She specializes in epistemology, metaphilosophy, and feminist philosophy (particularly, women of color and Black feminisms). Specifically, Dr. Dotson works on how knowledge-related concerns play a role in maintaining and obscuring oppression. She has published numerous journal articles in political epistemology, Black feminist philosophy, and metaphilosophy.
Ayanna De’Vante Spencer is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Women, Gender, and Sexuality studies at University of Connecticut. She is a Black feminist epistemologist and survivor-scholar who earned her doctorate in philosophy at Michigan State University. She is also a proud graduate of Spelman College. Dr. Spencer examines how Black girl survivors of sexual violence in the US are structurally denied power to meaningfully act as experts of their own experiences of violence. She works on epistemic oppression, sexual violence, and criminalization to aid in efforts to dismantle the sexual abuse to prison pipeline. Additionally, Dr. Spencer is a consultant for the international ‘metoo’ movement, a recipient of a Ford Foundation Fellowship, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy, the Department if African and African American Studies, and the Committee on Degrees in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality.
LOCATION:Fong Auditorium STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20220429T190000Z DTEND:20220429T210000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR