19-20th May 2015, Leeds, UK
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Alia Al-Saji (McGill University)
Nathaniel Adam Tobias C̶o̶l̶e̶m̶a̶n̶ (University College London)
Kristie Dotson (Michigan State University)
A.W. Eaton (University of Illinois – Chicago)
Sherri Irvin (University of Oklahoma)
Ron Mallon (Washington University in St Louis)
Charles W. Mills (Northwestern University)
Jennifer Saul (University of Sheffield)
Paul C. Taylor (Pennsylvania State University)
SUPPORTED by British Society of Aesthetics Connections Grant
CONFERENCE AIM AND THEMES
Nearly 100 years ago, the two founding giants of the academic field that became philosophy of race — W.E.B. Du Bois and Alain Locke — debated the proper social and artistic conception of black aesthetics. Since then, there has been impressive growth in both philosophy of race and philosophical aesthetics. Unfortunately, the advances in each of these philosophical fields seemed to have gone unnoticed by the other (with a few exceptions). Our aim with this conference is to reunite philosophy of race and philosophical aesthetics.
To return the spirit of Du Bois and Locke to contemporary discourse, we have invited philosophers who tackle philosophical problems related to race from diverse perspectives and philosophical aestheticians with demonstrated interest in race. We have chosen three intersections between race and aesthetics to focus on: psychology, politics, and methods. For more information on these themes, please visit the conference website: http://raceandaesthetics.weebly.com/themes.html .
CALL FOR PAPERS
We invite papers that are on the conference themes: the psychological, political, and methodological intersections between philosophical studies of race and aesthetics. Please send a 4000-word paper, suitable for anonymous review, as an attachment to raceandaesthetics@gmail.com and include in the main text of the email the paper title, your contact information, and your current affiliation. Please bear in mind that the papers should be suitable for a thirty-minute presentation.
Two papers will be selected. Each paper will be evaluated on the strength of its central argument and its embodiment of the conference’s spirit. Members of traditionally underprivileged groups in academia and junior scholars are warmly encouraged to apply. The submission deadline is 1 March 2015. We aim to make decisions within a month.
ACCESSIBILITY AND INCLUSIVITY
We are adopting the BPA/SWIP-recommended good practices. We aim to be an inclusive conference and we will do our best, within our budgetary constraints, to help with childcare and lower the barrier of participation for disabled philosophers. Please email us to discuss how we can best offer accommodation.
We have chosen a conference venue, Leeds Art Gallery, that has a strong accessibility infrastructure. Disabled parking is available, and the gallery entrance, the conference room, and toilets are all fully accessible. The conference room is equipped with a sound enhancement system for induction loops, and conference speakers will be asked to use microphones that connect to the system. Guide and assistance dogs are welcome.
All questions can be directed to conference organizers, Shen-yi Liao and Aaron Meskin, at raceandaesthetics@gmail.com
Conference website: raceandaesthetics.weebly.com