Latin American/Latinx Philosophy

Latin American/Latinx Philosophy

This is a growing area of philosophical scholarship and teaching, with national conferences held nearly every year, regular panels at the APA, a new journal, and numerous books and articles in print.

Below are compiled annotated lists of philosophy departments in which graduate and undergraduate students might pursue an interest in this area. These lists have been developed by our Advisory Board (the members can be found under the tab “Advisory Boards”). We have left these lists unranked because there is often only one main faculty member representing the field for each department. Therefore, students should consider their own interests in relation to the specific areas of expertise of these particular faculty members.

These lists were created in 2019/2020 and have been updated with recent faculty moves in 2020.

Graduate Programs:

The programs listed below provide support for graduate level work in this area. We used the following five criteria to create this list, but we strongly urge students to research these departments on their own, using these points as an initial guide.

1. There should be the possibility to work with at least one solid expert in the field, who is preferably a full, voting member of the philosophy department.

2. There should be a general pluralistic climate in the philosophy department as a whole that conveys support for this sub-field and for Latino/a faculty and students. For this reason it would be useful to cross reference the lists below with the Philosophy of Race and Africana Philosophy Lists from this Guide.

3. The department should welcome Spanish and other relevant languages (e.g., Portuguese, Indigenous languages) as philosophically important languages to master.

4. There should be faculty in other departments (i.e., outside of philosophy but at the same institution) who can also be consulted in matters concerning Latin American or Latinx thought.

5. There should be faculty in philosophy departments nearby (e.g., within the city, region, or state) who can also be consulted, serve on a committee as an outside reader, and so forth.

Recommended programs for graduate level work: The following programs meet these five criteria, albeit at differing degrees. We have also included the name of the principal faculty members who have expertise in this field.

PhD Programs

• DePaul University – Elizabeth Millán and María del Rosario Acosta López

• CUNY, Graduate Center – Linda Martín Alcoff

• Emory University - Rocío Zambrana

• Marquette University – Grant Silva and Stephanie Rivera Berruz

• Michigan State University – Elena Ruíz

• Northwestern University – José Medina

• Pennsylvania State University – Mariana Ortega and Eduardo Mendieta

• Rutgers University –Alex Guerrero and Nelson Maldonado-Torres (Comp Lit)

• SUNY, Buffalo – Jorge Gracia

• Texas A&M University– Gregory Pappas

• University of California, San Diego – Manuel Vargas and Clinton Tolley

• University of Oregon – Alejandro Vallega

• University of Washington - José Jorge Mendoza

A related, overlapping area of study is Caribbean Philosophy; the following departments are recommended in this area:

PhD Programs for Caribbean Philosophy:

• CUNY, Graduate Center – Charles Mills and Frank Kirkland

• Rutgers University – Nelson Maldonado-Torres (Comp Lit)

• University of Connecticut – Lewis Gordon and Jane Gordon

• University of Memphis – Michael Monahan

Recommended M.A. and Undergraduate Programs: The following programs have at least one faculty member with an expertise in this area.

MA Programs:

• American University – Amy Oliver

• Oregon State University – José-Antonio Orosco

• San Diego State University– Angelo Corlett

• San Jose State University – Carlos Sanchez

• Texas State University – Lori Gallegos, Ivan Marquez and Alejandro Bárcenas

• University of North Carolina, Charlotte – Andrea Pitts and Eddy Souffrant

• University of Texas at El Paso – Caroline Arruda and Kim Diaz (Chicano Studies)

Undergraduate Programs:

• Hunter College – Linda Martín Alcoff, Rolando Pérez

• John Jay College – Sergio Gallegos

• Millersville University—John Kaiser Ortiz

• Occidental College – Robert Sanchez

• University of Dayton – Ernesto Velásquez

• University of Nevada, Las Vegas – Amy Reed Sandoval

• University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley – Mariana Alessandri, Cynthia Paccacerqua, Alexander Stehn

• Wake Forest University – Francisco Gallegos