MIDSOUTH PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCE
and
at
Memphis, TN
April 12-13, 2024
Register online at
TBA
Call for
ABSTRACTS FOR POSTERS ON
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
and for
PAPERS
The forty-fifth annual Midsouth Philosophy Conference is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, April 12-13, at Rhodes College in Memphis, TN.
Sarah Clark Miller (Pennsylvania State University) will deliver the Keynote Address, Toward a Pluralist Theory of Sexual Agency. Here is the abstract:
The injustices of sexual violence occur through shockingly widespread and tenacious patterns encompassing multiple levels (institutional, social, personal) and domains (legal, epistemological, ethical). Yet, such injustices are found not only in socio-institutional structures but also internal to the scholarly work and political movements that wish to eradicate them. These injustices serve as roadblocks to feminist resistance to sexual violence. Critical engagement with Western feminist practices and literatures on sexual violence reveals abiding exclusionary, imperialist logics that center Western, middle-class, white, cis-gendered women’s experiences as the hegemonic norm.
Yet, a growing body of theoretical resources exists to counter such tendencies. Transnational, women of color, and queer feminist theories catalyze a reinvention of sexual agency in a world riddled with sexual violence. Self-reflexivity and intersectionality as modes of theory and praxis arising through transnational and women of color feminisms expand political and epistemological understandings of sexual violence and sexual agency beyond imperialist assumptions. Queer feminist theory offers approaches to sexual violence that problematize queer erasures from transnational feminist discourses while maintaining productive points of friction between feminist and queer camps, leading toward a conception of sexual agency that centers desire and pleasure while registering an increasing awareness of the pitfalls of compulsory sexuality.
When drawn together, these resources and methodologies create the conditions of possibility for a pluralist philosophical theory of sexual agency. This theory consists of four main components: (1) non-ideal sexual agents whose sexual agency often takes place under the constraints of subordination and whose sexual subjectivity is frequently formed through trauma; (2) a revisited notion of pleasure expanded by further engagement with Black feminist accounts that center intersectional justice; (3) critical self-reflexivity, including both reflection on one’s own positionality as a sexual agent with the relative privilege or lack thereof that comes with that positionality and self-reflexivity as an awareness of oneself as a sexual being; and (4) a relational understanding of sexual agency designed to move beyond accounts that center self-determination as an individualistic concept.
There is a $60 registration fee for the conference, $40 for graduate students, payable by cash or check at the conference (but not by credit or debit card).
Call for Abstracts for Posters on Teaching Philosophy
There will also be a Poster Session on Friday evening. The Midsouth Philosophy Conference welcomes 500-word abstracts for posters from philosophers that share their teaching expertise. Click HERE for further information and submission details.
There will be a Plenary Workshop on Teaching Philosophy on Saturday afternoon. Those who attend the entire workshop will receive a certificate of completion that they can submit with their annual faculty service reports under "efforts to improve instruction."
Call for Papers
Papers in any philosophical area are welcome.
The Midsouth Philosophy Conference welcomes submissions from women and members of minority groups.
Papers must not exceed a length of 3000 words. On the first page of your paper, include the following items:
1. word count - 3000 words maximum!
2. author's name.
3.academic status (professor, unaffiliated, graduate student).
4. highest earned degree (PhD, MA).
5. institutional affiliation (if any).
6. email address.
7. the paper's title.
8. and an abstract - 100 words maximum!
Papers which do not include all eight items will not be considered.
No more than one paper by the same author can be considered.
Submit your paper as a PDF to:
Title your file this way:
LastNameFirstName.pdf
for example: ArendtHannah.pdf
In the subject header of your email, put:
MPC Paper Submission
Papers must be submitted by March 1.
Papers will be reviewed by a committee. Notification of acceptance will be made via email. Submissions whose authors cannot be contacted through email will be rejected.
Each paper will have a commentator. Persons whose papers are accepted are expected to serve as commentators if asked. Others interested in commenting should email midsouth@lclark.edu by March 1, stating their availability and areas of interest. Graduate students who are not yet ABD are especially encouraged to volunteer.
Due to the size of the conference, we cannot accommodate special scheduling requests. You should submit a paper only if you can attend both days of the conference.
The conference will begin with the Keynote Address at 1:30 Friday afternoon.
The conference will conclude at 6:00 Saturday evening.
Rooms have been reserved at the Comfort Inn Memphis Downtown on 100 North Front Street. Make reservations as soon as possible. Telephone 901-526-0583. Be sure to identify yourself as a participant in the Midsouth Philosophy Conference.
Rooms may also be available at:
Hampton Inn & Suites Memphis-Beale Street on 175 Peabody Place, 901-260-4000.
Holiday Inn Memphis-Downtown (Beale Street) on 160 Union Avenue, 901-5255491.
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Memphis Downtown on 185 Union Avenue, 901-528-1800.
Moxy Memphis Downtown Hotel on 40 North Front Street, 901-522-9700.
The Rambler on 400 South Main Street, 901-460-7654.
Click here for hotels and driving directions to Rhodes College.
Click here for campus and parking maps.
Updated on 21 February 2024