Who Are Our Speakers?

Speakers invited under the Anzaldúa Speaker Series in Philosophy Guests are  practitioners in philosophy and theory, whose research, scholarship, and contributions directly engage with or share in aspects of Anzaldúa’s works.  They include nationally and internationally renowned intellectuals as well as scholars in early stages of their careers.

For instance:

• In light of Anzaldúa’s cosmopolitanism, our speakers include practitioners whose research includes transnational and global frameworks or address problems of transnational and global significance.
• In light of the diversity of international thinkers referenced in her writings, our guests include specialists in Latin American,  Caribbean, Asian, and European Philosophy, and/or Comparative Philosophy.
• In light of Anzaldúa’s concerns with the life conditions and possibilities of marginalized communities in the U.S. and abroad, our speakers will sometimes address the cultural, ethical, political, and ontological dimensions that constitute, determine, and characterize their life experiences.
• In light of Anzaldúa’s philosophical contributions, ethical sensibility and political orientation towards our understanding of nature and our human relationship to our organic and inorganic entities and larger environment, our speakers include specialists in environmental philosophy and community engagement.
• In light of Anzaldúa’s commitment to thinking concepts of spirituality, race, class, gender, sexuality as well as the way these intersect phenomenologically and socially, we invite speakers whose philosophical work expands our capability of theoretically thinking such geohistorically grounded concepts and their ethical, political, and ontological functions today, both locally and/or globally.
• In light of Anzaldúa’s awareness of the historical under-representation of particular communities within academic and other culturally productive institutions in the U.S., we are particularly interested in making the Speaker Series a forum for members of under-represented groups to introduce, share, and develop their philosophical work publicly – regardless of their disciplinary subfields – among philosophy peers and members of the community at large.
• As a final example, in light of Anzaldúa’s borderland style, methodological approach and orientation in thought, our guests' own intellectual contributions may take forms that are unconventional in the philosophy discipline.  In this regards, our Speakers include: scholars whose works are transdisciplinary, artists, and community activists guided by a clear ethical, social, and political vision.