Caribbean Philosophical Association
2014 ANNUAL MEETING
Shifting the Geography of Reason XI:
Diverse Lineages of Existentialism—Africana, Feminist, and
Decolonial
June 19–21, 2014, Hyatt Regency, St. Louis, Missouri
Call for Papers
Submission Deadline:
February 1, 2014
Abstracts should be submitted to: caribphil@gmail.com
In recent years, existential thought has been revitalized by
a new generation of theorists investigating questions of gender, race, and
sexual orientation. They have brought to light numerous ways in which
existentialism has contributed to, and been shaped by, Africana philosophy,
Latin American philosophy, feminism, and the work of literary writers and
performing artists.
Initiated by the publication of the Beauvoir Series at the
University of Illinois Press and the Caribbean Philosophical Association
initiatives for the study of relations across gender, race, and sexuality, and
global collaborations connecting the region to intellectual work in countries
ranging from India to Japan, Senegal and South Africa, to many across the
Caribbean, South America, and the globe, the goal of the conference is to
overcome isolation, bringing together a wide variety of scholars to share their
research on the diverse lineages of existential thought—especially the unique
challenge to questions of existence posed by thought from the Global South.
Research questions include:
How have existentialist conceptions of freedom shaped, and been shaped
by, feminist and postcolonial thought?
In what ways can the category of the Other, as conceived by
existentialists, inform our understanding of oppression in its various
forms? How can we understand the
connections between existentialism and Latin American liberation
philosophy? How has existentialist
thought been shaped by non-existentialist thinkers such as Hegel, Marx,
Husserl, Bergson, Bataille, Foucault, Sri Aurobindo, Tagore, C.L.R. James and
Sylvia Wynter? What is the relationship
between the existentialisms of Sartre, Beauvoir, and Fanon and contemporary
Caribbean and African existential thinkers?
What is the influence and role of Eastern existentialisms in
contemporary Africana and feminist thought? How is existentialism relevant to
questions in feminism and race theory? What would it mean to creolize
existentialism?
To further discussions of these issues, this conference will
be the first formal collaborative meeting of the Caribbean Philosophical
Association, the Simone de Beauvoir Society, the Jean-Paul Sartre Society of
North America, and the Collegium of Black Women in Philosophy. The following journals have also agreed to
publish selections of the best papers from the conference: Simone de Beauvoir
Studies; The Caribbean Journal of Philosophy; The Journal of French and Francophone
Philosophy; The C.L.R. James Journal; Sartre Studies International.
Guidelines: Please email in MS Word your title, abstract,
institutional affiliation, rank or work (e.g., “writer” or “artist” if not an
academic), and email address.
Submission Deadline:
February 1, 2014 Abstracts should be submitted to:
caribphil@gmail.com
For more information visit our website.
You can also visit http://www.siue.edu/existentialism/
