Anne (Schulherr) Waters
Anne (Schulherr) Waters
Lee Bahat Linn
Anne (Schulherr) Waters, J.D., Ph.D., a CIC, and past Rockefeller scholar, is of Seminole, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, and Jewish descent. She holds four graduate degrees (two doctorates earned in 1992), and is an editor, educator, philosopher, poet, and lawyer, having published in several philosophy and Indigenous American journals and anthologies, written many appellate briefs, and edited several books. In 1992 Dr. Waters was the first of two Indigenous Americans to receive a Ph.D. in the discipline of Philosophy.
Dr. Waters is editor of the first Indigenous American philosophy anthology, American Indian Thought: Philosophical Essays (Blackwell, Oxford Oct 2004), Co-editor of American Philosophies: An Anthology (Blackwell, Oxford 2003), co-guest Editor of a special issue of Hypatia - A Journal of Feminist Philosophy: Indigenous Women in the Americas (Indiana Univ. 2003), and is currently working on two books, one to be titled Crossing Borders to Return: American Indian Women in Academe, and another, Criminals on the Courts’ Bench: Paradoxes of the American Justice System As Seen Through the Eyes of A Native American.
American Indian Thought brings together a diverse group of Indigenous American thinkers to discuss traditional and contemporary philosophies and philosophical issues. The essays presented here address philosophical questions pertaining to knowledge, time, place, history, science, law, religion, nationhood, ethics, and art, as understood from a variety of Native American standpoints. Unique in its approach, this volume represents several different tribes and nations and amplifies the voice of contemporary Indigenous American culture struggling for respect and autonomy. Taken together, the essays collected here exemplify the way in which Indigenous American perspectives enrich contemporary philosophy.
Anne (Schulherr) Waters has described a "nondiscreet ontology of being" in the context of gender. With a different attitude towards labels, Waters argues that Indigenous American viewpoints are more tolerant to those that don't fit into a strict binary gender framework. Her views are truly revolutanary, and since she is the first of two Indigenous Americans to receive a Ph.D. in the discipline of Philosophy, her contribution to the field of indigenous philosophy is great. Because of this Waters is a true inspiration to all philosophers, women, indeginous people and to people around the world.
