CFP: MSU Graduate Student Philosophy Conference: Power, Oppression, and Social Change

The general aim of this conference is to broach philosophical frameworks of social criticism that illuminate structures of oppression in all of their complexity. This foremost includes analyses of power relations and structural and symbolic mechanisms of subjugation, and how they problematize capacities for critical reflection and social change. To motivate such analyses, we hope to consider some of the following questions:

-What are the roles of institutionalized social, cultural, and political norms in the inception and maintenance of social oppression?

-In what ways is social oppression guided by instrumental rationality?

-Do structures of social oppression tend to operate on pre-predicative, sensible levels, and if so, how?

-How/where do we find the tools that allow us to articulate an individual and subsequent collective autonomy that engenders both critical reflection and a capacity to bring about practical social change?

All submissions relating to the topic of social oppression are welcome. We especially encourage submissions that approach the topic within fluid frameworks capable of intersecting social dynamics such as class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality.

Please send submissions to [email protected] no later than January 11th, 2013.