Call For Papers

 

Speaking Face to Face/Hablando Cara a Cara:

The Visionary Philosophy of María Lugones

 

Feminist philosopher, popular educator, community organizer, decolonial thinker, María Lugones is a visionary whose writings disrupt disciplinary boundaries.  Her rejection of either/or logics derives from a commitment to faithfully witness complex, resistant (inter)subjectivity and to think within the lived experience of non-dominant sociality. Rooted in the experience of Latina/o histories, Lugones asserts the potential of active subjectivity for “los marginales,” mostly but not only folks of color, who reside at the interstices of multiple oppressions.  Generated at the point of praxis, her methodological and epistemic interventions are intimately attentive to flesh-and-blood realities and oriented towards the creation of deep and expansive coalitions of understanding/practice.

Despite Lugones’s central place in theorizing resistance against multiple oppressions at the turn of the century, her thinking is rarely engaged with the depth and complexity afforded to other philosophers in general and other Latina and Chicana theorists in particular.  This anthology addresses the need to recognize the extent and import of her contributions to philosophy and other fields of inquiry while also establishing multiple entries into her oeuvre.  Accordingly, we welcome essays that engage and apply central concepts elaborated in Lugones’s body of work as well as contributions that situate her thought in relation to various areas of knowledge.  In the spirit of speaking face to face/hablando cara a cara from the concreteness of body-to-body encounters with one another, we seek contributions that cultivate multiple sites of connection and innovative modes of complex communication. Overall, this collection intends a deeply interdisciplinary dialogue inspired by Lugones’s thought and aimed at expanding the readership of her work.

Central points of engagement with Lugones’s work may include:

  • Lugones’s relationship with and contributions to feminist theory, queer theory, epistemology, phenomenology, coloniality/decoloniality, U.S. Latino/a Studies, Latin American philosophy, structural multiculturalism and critical race theories of sexuality

  • Major influences on Lugones’s philosophy over time and their impact on her body of work

  • Epistemic, phenomenological, and ontological contributions in Lugones’s theorizing about  multiplicity, including multiple subjectivities, multiple ‘worlds’ of sense, and multiple oppressions

  • Lugones’s reconfiguration of spatiality and temporality to facilitate decolonization

  • The impact of Lugones’s praxical thinking and streetwalker theorizing

  •   Decolonial feminism and the colonial-modern gender system

  •   Lugones’s emphases on (inter)subjectivity and active subjectivity in understanding experience

  • Lugones’s critique of philosophy and socio-political thought when they place knowledge production outside the social or as a way of disengaging from the concrete

  • The centrality and marginalization of Lugones’s work in theoretical disciplines and activist circles

  • Lugones’s concepts of “deep coalition” and “complex communication”

  • Lugones’s theorizing of radical multiculturalism, the politics of knowledge production and its consequences for Women of Color and peoples with colonized histories

  • Other topics that highlight the significance of Lugones’s contributions to the content and practice of theory

Abstract Deadline: October 15th, 2013

Abstracts should be substantial 500-1000 word descriptions of the proposed submission, detailing how the potential contribution speaks to the call for papers.  Those accepted will be notified by November 15, 2013. Acceptance of abstract does not guarantee acceptance of final submission.

Full Manuscript Submission Deadline: May 1st, 2014

Questions and all submissions should be e-mailed to all three of the editors at the addresses below:

  • Pedro Di Pietro, Visiting Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley, pdipietro@berkeley.edu

  • Jennifer McWeeny, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Worcester Polytechnic University, jmcweeny@wpi.edu

  • Shireen Roshanravan, Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies, Kansas State University, sroshanr@ksu.edu