Philosophy and Migration Justice: Working to Decolonize the Anglophone Canon

The Center for Global Ethics and Politics is excited to welcome the distinguished feminist philosopher Alison Jaggar, who will be presenting the Marx Wartofsky Memorial Lecture of Spring 2023. This talk is co-sponsored with the Philosophy Program Colloquium. The lecture will be followed by a Q&A with the speaker.

This is an in-person event that will allow for virtual participation via Zoom. The in-person talk will be followed by a reception with wine and snacks.

In person: the event will take place at the CUNY Graduate Center, Room 9205/06.

Virtually: please register to participate via Zoom.

Abstract

The topic of migration is constantly in the headlines of the United States and many European countries. Migration into these countries is frequently declared a crisis and sometimes framed as an invasion. This talk focuses on how mainstream anglophone philosophers discuss the issue of migration justice. I argue that their discussion is deeply biased by obscuring consideration of the ways in which migrant flows are related to Euro-American colonialism and neo-colonialism. If anglophone philosophers are to develop fairer understandings of migration justice, we must revise our conceptual frameworks and our reasoning methods. At the end of the talk, I indicate an emerging tradition of work by transnational feminist philosophers that is moving discussion of this topic in decolonial directions.

Speaker Bio

Alison M. Jaggar is Emerita Professor of Distinction in the Departments of Philosophy and of Women and Gender Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder and a faculty associate in Ethnic Studies. She was recently a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Birmingham, UK, and she is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In the 1970s, Jaggar was a pioneer in feminist philosophy and a founder of the discipline of critical gender studies. She is the author and editor of many articles and books and is recipient of many awards and fellowships. She has also contributed a great deal of professional service and currently serves on the APA Committee for the Defense of the Professional Rights of Philosophers. Jaggar’s recent work on gender and global justice disrupts neo-colonial, gendered and racialized assumptions about transnational divisions of labor and migration. Currently, Jaggar is working on a co-authored book tentatively titled Undisciplining Moral Epistemology: Justifying Moral Claims in a Diverse and Unequal World.