FALL 2023
Caribbean Philosophy
PHIL 5050-001 | Dr. Eddy Souffrant | Mondays 2:30–5:15pm
We shall consider the nature of Caribbean Philosophy and explore its critical and expansive aspects with the works of Cesaire, Conde, Fanon, Glissant, Price-Mars, Scott, Trouillot, and Wynter.
Black Aesthetics
PHIL 5050-002 | Dr. Michael Kelly | online asynchronous
Aesthetics (critical imagining, making, and thinking about art, culture, design, everyday life, and nature) is as old as philosophy, but Black aesthetics typically has not been recognized as part of the modern history of aesthetics because of anti-Black racism. Some of the most creative philosophical as well as political developments in modern and contemporary aesthetics are to be found within the history of Black aesthetics.
Feminist Methods
PHIL 5180 | Dr. Kelsey Walker | Mondays 5:30–8:15pm [online]
Feminist Methods takes as its primary concern the relation between theory and practice. Specifically, in the first half of the class, we consider some of the central concepts and questions that arise from feminist theory, starting from women of color and queer feminist theory. In the second half of the class, we consider how we ought to engage in feminism as a method, thinking specifically about research and pedagogy from marginalized positions.
Philosophical Methods and Analysis
PHIL 6120| Dr. Ruth Groenhout | Wednesdays 2:30–5:15pm
This course is an introduction to the various methods of doing philosophy, examining both the various philosophical traditions as well as the reading and writing skills necessary for success in a philosophy graduate program. Because the MA program at UNCC is an Applied Philosophy program, the focus of this class will be on methodologically different approaches to various applied issues in philosophy, focusing on issues of identity, agency, and selfhood. We begin with historical approaches, move to the analytic/continental divide, and conclude with alternative approaches that fall outside these three major categories.
Theories of Resistance
PHIL 6602| Dr. Maria Labbato | Wednesdays 5:30–8:15pm [online]
Taking as its starting point the conception of "being human" in decolonial theory, we examine the relation between dominant conceptions of the political subject and structures of knowledge production, as well as the impact such conceptions have in the contemporary context. Doing so provides a framework for theorizing the tools necessary for resisting dominant and oppressive structures (impacting intersections of embodiment, sexuality, gender, and race) that operate through a process of dehumanization.
Master's Research Paper
PHIL 6999 | Dr. Gordon Hull | Wednesdays 12:15–3:00pm
Students begin with a previously submitted course paper and spend the semester revising it. The goal is for each student to produce a polished, professional paper worthy of submission to a philosophical journal. Additional reading and research on the topic is conducted, and multiple steps of revision and presentation of work in progress to the class are included.