Slavery and Abolition in Eighteenth-Century Philosophy
\nMay 13-15\, 2026
\nEmory University
\nAtlanta\, Georgia
\nCall for Papers
\nRecent studies of eighteenth-century philosophy have generated incisive questions about the limitations of the moral and political insight of British and European philosophers who were invested in (or silent about) transatlantic slavery. During this period\, the rapidly expanding traffic and enslavement of African people appears as a topic of common knowledge and discussion in religion\, law\, economics\, literature\, and drama. Writings by enslaved and self-emancipated women and men attested to the violence and degradation of the conditions of slavery\, as well as to the hypocrisy of much of Western moral and political discourse. This symposium invites proposals (500 words) for 25-minute presentations that consider writing about slavery and abolition both as and in conversation with eighteenth-century philosophy. \;
\nWe expect to host 15-20 scholars whose presentations engage with these topics directly or indirectly: \;
\nMarronage and Slave Rebellions
\nTheology and Abolition
\nEconomic Theory and Slavery
\nBlack Abolitionists (in context)
\nGender and Enslavement
\nMarriage and Slavery
\nNatural law and Slavery
\nMoral Philosophy and Slavery
\nWomen Philosophers on Slavery
\nColonialism and Slavery
\nReparation and Restitution
\nColorism and 18th-Century Theories of Race
\nPolitical Slavery
\nWar and Slavery
\nLocal Histories of Slavery in the Eighteenth-Century (Georgia)
\nSubmission Deadline: October 15th\, 2025
\n[Submit Proposals Online]: https://forms.gle/YodCMraMr34W2pA77
\nOrganizers:
\nAminah Hasan-Birdwell (Emory University)
\nCarrie Shanafelt (Yeshiva University)
\nKeynote Speaker:
\nRobert Bernasconi (Pennsylvania State University)
\nPlenary Lecture:
\nHuaping Lu-Adler (Georgetown University)
\nTacuma Peters \;(Hunter College)
\n ORGANIZER;CN=Aminah Hasan-Birdwell;CN=Carrie Shanafelt: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR