SSAP 2019/2020 MEETING SCHEDULE
SSAP meets on the third Sunday of the month (unless otherwise noted) during the academic year. Our meetings are free and open to the public. Meeting logistics can be found here. Please find below the meeting dates for the 2019/2020 academic year.
Please check back for updates.If you do research in Africana Philosophy or related fields, and would like to present your work at our forum, contact us here.
Please check back for updates.If you do research in Africana Philosophy or related fields, and would like to present your work at our forum, contact us here.
September 15th: Open Forum on Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva's, "Feeling Race: Theorizing the Racial Economy of Emotions"
Please read and be prepared to discuss.
Here is the article.
Paper Abstract:
In this presidential address, I advance a theoretical sketch on racialized emotions—the emotions specific to racialized societies. These emotions are central to the racial edifice of societies, thus, analysts and policymakers should understand their collective nature, be aware of how they function, and appreciate the existence of variability among emoting racial subjects. Clarity on these matters is key for developing an effective affective politics to challenge any racial order. After the sketch, I offer potential strategies to retool our racial emotive order as well as our racial selves. I end my address urging White sociologists to acknowledge the significance of racism in sociology and the emotions it engenders and to work to advance new personal and organizational anti-racist practices.
Please read and be prepared to discuss.
Here is the article.
Paper Abstract:
In this presidential address, I advance a theoretical sketch on racialized emotions—the emotions specific to racialized societies. These emotions are central to the racial edifice of societies, thus, analysts and policymakers should understand their collective nature, be aware of how they function, and appreciate the existence of variability among emoting racial subjects. Clarity on these matters is key for developing an effective affective politics to challenge any racial order. After the sketch, I offer potential strategies to retool our racial emotive order as well as our racial selves. I end my address urging White sociologists to acknowledge the significance of racism in sociology and the emotions it engenders and to work to advance new personal and organizational anti-racist practices.
October 25th & 26th*: PRAT conference
Conference: Philosophy and Religion in Africana Traditions (PRAT)
Theme: "Economic Justice in an Age of Abundance and Scarcity"
Here is the FLYER
Theme: "Economic Justice in an Age of Abundance and Scarcity"
Here is the FLYER
November 17th: open disucssion
"Thomas Piketty's CAPITAL AND IDEOLOGY (2020) = G.A. Cohen's WHY NOT SOCIALISM?"
January 19th: Karl Ellis Johnson
Dr. Karl Ellis Johnson is an Associate Professor of African American Studies, Chair and Co-Convener of the African Studies Group and Major, School of Humanities and Global Studies, Ramapo College of New Jersey. Dr. Johnson’s Temple University Ph.D. thesis was “Post World War II Social History of Black Philadelphia.” He is an expert on Sub-Saharan African Medieval Civilizations, Kingdoms and Culture; Black American Rap Hip-Hop Cultural Transfer to Africa.
At our January meeting, Johnson will present, “The Crash of 1929 with a Special Focus on its Social and Political Impact on Racial and Ethnic minorities: Using Black Americans as a Case study”
At our January meeting, Johnson will present, “The Crash of 1929 with a Special Focus on its Social and Political Impact on Racial and Ethnic minorities: Using Black Americans as a Case study”
February 23rd*: Delicia Kamins
Kamins is a fourth year doctoral student in the department of philosophy at Stony Brook University. Her research focuses on whether philosophical treatments of "motion" – specifically as described by Aristotle, Kant, Hegel and Whitehead – might inform epistemological conundrums within quantum mechanics.
At our February meeting Kamins will present, “Technology and the Question of Being.”
Brief abstract:
The pervasiveness of technology in modern life has almost made us forget the ‘proper’ role of technology in human life. If we approach the question of what is the proper role of technology, responses might be of the sort “to make life easier,” “to increase our efficiency,” “to extend and enhance human skills,” etc. Indeed, these are true. But they are the proper role of technology in human life. To discover what is the proper role – and, how it is connected to the above-mentioned effects of technology – we need to start with the question of Being, specifically what it means to be human. This talk with focus on teaching the philosophy of technology not from the lens of technology and modern life, but rather, from the lens of what it means to be human; how technology is supposed to contribute to that inquiry; whether our use and development of technology has gone astray from this primary task, or is on task; and finally, has the permanence and pervasiveness of technology in modern life changed what it means to be human. I look forward to a lively discussion regarding technology and the issue of Being specifically as it relates to African American and the general African Diaspora.
At our February meeting Kamins will present, “Technology and the Question of Being.”
Brief abstract:
The pervasiveness of technology in modern life has almost made us forget the ‘proper’ role of technology in human life. If we approach the question of what is the proper role of technology, responses might be of the sort “to make life easier,” “to increase our efficiency,” “to extend and enhance human skills,” etc. Indeed, these are true. But they are the proper role of technology in human life. To discover what is the proper role – and, how it is connected to the above-mentioned effects of technology – we need to start with the question of Being, specifically what it means to be human. This talk with focus on teaching the philosophy of technology not from the lens of technology and modern life, but rather, from the lens of what it means to be human; how technology is supposed to contribute to that inquiry; whether our use and development of technology has gone astray from this primary task, or is on task; and finally, has the permanence and pervasiveness of technology in modern life changed what it means to be human. I look forward to a lively discussion regarding technology and the issue of Being specifically as it relates to African American and the general African Diaspora.
March 15th: Robert P. Crease
Crease teaches philosophy at Stony Brook University, where he is also Chair of the department (PhD Columbia University). He has written/translated/edited nearly twenty books. His most recent is The Workshop and the World: What Ten Thinkers Can Teach Us about Science and Authority (WW Norton 2019). He is now working on a book about prominent scholars who have shaped the role of the humanities in contemporary culture. He is a columnist, Physics World and Co-Editor-in-Chief, Physics in Perspective.
At our March meeting Crease will present, “Hannah Arendt, James Baldwin and Little Rock"
At our March meeting Crease will present, “Hannah Arendt, James Baldwin and Little Rock"
April 19th: Elleni Centime Zeleke
Dr. Elleni Centime Zeleke is an Assistant Professor of African Studies, Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies, Columbia University.
At our April meeting Zeleke will present, “Ethiopia in Theory: Revolution and Knowledge Production 1964-2016"
At our April meeting Zeleke will present, “Ethiopia in Theory: Revolution and Knowledge Production 1964-2016"
May 17th: Althea Sully-Cole
Althea Sully-Cole is a Ph.D. Student at Columbia University.
At our May meeting Sully-Cole will present, “Petrified Strings: On Social Death of Musical Instruments”
At our May meeting Sully-Cole will present, “Petrified Strings: On Social Death of Musical Instruments”
* NOT the 3rd Sunday of the month
** tentative date
** tentative date
