The Speakers

Lori Gallegos is an associate professor of philosophy at Texas State University. She teaches and researches in the areas of philosophy of emotions, moral psychology, and Latin American philosophy. Her work frequently explores the interchange between subjective experiences of emotion, and broader social and political dynamics. 

She is the editor of APA Studies on Hispanic/Latino Issues in Philosophy. She has published academic articles, as well as book chapters that appear in Latin American and Latinx Philosophy: A Collaborative Introduction, ed. Robert Eli Sanchez, Jr. (Routledge, 2020), Latin American Immigration Ethics, ed. Amy Reed-Sandoval and Luis Rubén Díaz Cepeda (University of Arizona Press, 2021),Philosophy and Human Flourishing, ed. John J. Stuhr (Oxford University Press, 2022), the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Existentialism, ed. Kevin Aho, Megan Altman, and Hans Pedersen, (Routledge, 2024).

Born and raised in Albuquerque, NM, Gallegos earned a B.A. in philosophy and foreign languages at the University of New Mexico in 2008. Afterward, she worked as a full-time case manager at an immigration law firm, where she focused on family-based immigration. In 2016, she earned a Ph.D. in philosophy and a Graduate Certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies from Stony Brook University (SUNY). Her dissertation examined the value and limitations of empathy for contributing to moral knowledge in a society beleaguered by social inequality.

Itsue Nakaya-Perez is a Philosophy PhD student at CUNY, The Graduate Center. They did their undergraduate studies at UNAM, located in Mexico City where they were born and raised. They are interested in the relationship between personal identity and social groups, as well as how we classify ourselves and others. 

Their research focuses on two main areas: social ontology and philosophy of sciences, both with a feminist and decolonial perspective. On the one hand, they are interested in social groups such as class, gender, and race, their intersection and how they enable, restrict, and construct our identity. On the other hand, they are interested in scientific classifications, especially in the way epistemic and non-epistemic values interact with each other. Complex selves, borderline spaces, and violence are other topics they do research on.

Besides their research and student duties, Itsue is a professor at Brooklyn College and has taught at other institutions such as John Jay College, New York University, and UNAM. They are passionate about education and have also been a popular educator in rural areas of Mexico. Besides that, they are passionate about social justice, including feminism, LGBTQ rights, immigration issues, and other realities particular to Latin America. In their free time, they like to work out, hangout with friends, and write non-academic texts.

Layla Y. Mayorga, currently pursuing a Ph.D. in philosophy at Fordham University, was born in Tamaulipas, Mexico. She completed her undergraduate studies in philosophy with a minor in Law, Values, and Policy at the University of Houston. In addition to her bachelor's degree, Layla holds a Master's in Public Policy from the University of Houston and a Master's in Philosophy from Fordham University. Her research focuses on immigration ethics, citizenship issues, and pragmatism.

Teaching at Fordham University, Layla's instructional interests span from Decolonial Feminism, Pragmatism, and Latin American Philosophy. As a former Mellon Research Scholar, she played a key role in policy projects and retention programs aimed at enhancing educational opportunities for undocumented children in the Houston area. Beyond academia, Layla is dedicated to advocating for the rights of undocumented children. Her mission involves integrating the experiences of undocumented individuals into the philosophical canon, showcasing her ongoing commitment to advancing research and activism.

Juan Sebastián Ospina teaches classes on social and political philosophy, philosophy of law, ethics, and Latin American philosophy. His courses combine traditions of the history of philosophy, continental political philosophy, and decolonial philosophies to explore issues such as the relationship between law and violence, moral obligations, political and social ontology, and critical rights theories.  

He completed his Ph.D in Philosophy at the University of Oregon. Ospina’s dissertation project focused on the normative contributions of Enrique Dussel’s politics of liberation to examine the theoretical underpinnings necessary for a decolonial account of law and suggests an alternative conceptualization of the function of law, constituent power, and institutions that result from that Latin American philosophical tradition. In addition to his academic work, Ospina has previous work in human rights advocacy, on transitional justice initiatives, and as advisor of the High Commissioner for Peace in Colombia (2012-2014)

I am a graduate student in the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University. Before coming to the United States, I earned a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Literature from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín, Colombia. Later, I achieved a Master's in Philosophy (magna cum laude) from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. My primary areas of research are moral psychology, Latin American philosophy, and social epistemology. I have a particular interest in exploring questions related to racial formation in Latin America and its interaction with colonial dynamics. I have published, both in English and Spanish, focusing mainly on topics related to epistemic injustice and oppression. Some of my other academic interests include the history of medicine and the history and philosophy of psychology. My non-academic passions are dance and martial arts, in particular karate, which I have had the opportunity to practice in recent years.  

Dr. Oscar Barragán is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Penn State Berks. He joined the Division of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences in the Fall 2021, after working for different institutions across the country. He comes to Berks with a wealth of experience teaching undergraduate courses in ethics, introduction to philosophy, aesthetics, modern philosophy, and philosophy of mind. His interest in ethics and aesthetics is closely linked to questions concerning the nature of material objects, culture, and the evolution of the human mind. The goal of his current research is to establish a framework for understanding how physical objects come into existence and cease to exist. He received a doctorate in Philosophy from Temple University and a Master of Liberal Arts in Philosophy and Cognitive Science from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Barragán grew up in Venezuela and moved to the US to pursue studies in Philosophy.

Dr. Barragán believes that education should be the means for the moral development of citizens. His courses emphasize analytical thinking and the understanding of democratic citizenship as a living practice of rational questioning. Accordingly, his aim is to prepare students for success in a competitive labor market, by nurturing their understanding of logic and arguments. He encourages students’ use of philosophical analysis to address the ethical, political, economic, and existential challenges that we face today.