a fundamentally Appalachian feminist
In her late biographical work, belonging, bell hooks wrote,
“As a black woman writing about Appalachia, I receive little notice. I can talk about race, gender, and class and be heard, but few listen when I speak on environmental issues and how rural black folks hold the earth sacred. Then, as a voice for Appalachia, Wendell Berry is heard. Suddenly, I listened to his words and learned. Fervently, he teaches me. But like a mighty giant, a goliath, as a Kentucky black female writer, I stand continually in his shadows. I am not considered a companion voice. We do not join together to speak our love for Kentucky, our hopes for earth free from exploitation.”
Building on my experience growing up in a small, Appalachian town and the wisdom of rural feminists like bell hooks, my philosophical work aims to to re-center marginalized rural voices to better understand the relationship between poverty and political extremism, as well as re-imagine and restore rural futurity.
methodology
I specialize in feminist philosophy, social and political philosophy, and applied ethics. My research aims to mediate theory, community and policy spaces, building bridges to support the translation of marginalized community wisdom of rural poverty and extremism into practical solutions.
Thus, in line with the tradition of feminist praxis-philosophy, my research is methodologically promiscuous, adopting different tools for different features of these complex problems.
My philosophical interests range from critical phenomenology and hermeneutics to non-ideal social epistemology, philosophy of education, (feminist non-violence) political theory, critical histories of philosophy, feminist pragmatism, care ethics and the philosophy of emotion.
I also draw on interdisciplinary resources in community-based participatory action research, sociology, ethnography, political science and moral psychology.
Publications
“Weaving Peace in Rural America: Jane Addams’ Participatory Path Beyond Rural Poverty and Extremism.” The Pluralist. Spring 2025 (1). [accepted, August 2024. forthcoming] *Awarded the Addams Prize at the 2024 SAAP meeting.
“Facing Epistemic Uncertainty: A Response to The Philosophy Garden’s Pedagogical Approach to Conspiracy Theorizing.” with Ksenia Filatov. Philosophy of Education 80(1): 157-172. doi: 10.47925/80.1.157
Upcoming Talks
“(un)Sutainable: Challenging Exploitative Green Economies and Reimagining a Genuinely Sustainable Rural America.” APA Eastern. New York City, New York. January 8-11th, 2025
“Re-considering the Role of Aptness in Affective Injustice.” Panel with Denish Jaswal and Kelvin Li. Eighth Annual Meeting of the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Society. New Orleans, LA. (forthcoming, November 14th-16th, 2024).
“Differentiating Exploitative and Liberatory Uses of Narrative in Politics.” 18th Annual Society for Ricœur Studies Conference, Chicago Illinois. (forthcoming: October 24-27th, 2024.)
“Dismantling “Petro-Masculinity”: Recovering the Liberatory Embodied Knowledge of Rural Women, People of Color Queer, and Disabled Folks Surviving Affective Injustice.” Marginalized Body Epistemologies and 4E Embodied Cognition. Spellman College. Atlanta, GA. (forthcoming: Oct 4-6th, 2024).
“Re-building Rural Civic Agency: Detailing the Mechanics of Weaving Addamsian Peace in Appalachian Public Schools.” Northeast Philosophy of Education Society (NEPES). Boston College, Boston, MA. (forthcoming, Oct 5th, 2024).
“Advancing Affective Justice through Loving Perception and Critical Subjectivity: A Dialogue between Addams' Feminist Pragmatism and Hermeneutic Phenomenology.” SPEP. Rochester, NY. (forthcoming: Sept. 26th-29th, 2024).
“The Role of Rural Feminism in Building Place-Based Sustainable Futures” Workshop on Gender and Philosophy
“Conceptualizing Emotional Aptness.” Emotion and Society Lab Doctoral Fellowship Works in Progress Session. Online. December.
“Petro-Masculinity as Affective Injustice.” Sofphia, Fall 2024 Meeting. October 18-20th, 2024. Boston College.