Course Descriptions

Charles Mills uses the term “white supremacy” to describe a global system of racial domination of whites over non-whites. Scholars working in different fields including in the history and philosophy of education have examined the evidence for past and present manifestations of this phenomenon. Using “the color of mind” conceptual framework, which tracks the operation of this system in K-12 American schools, we will explore how race operates in contemporary special education and school discipline practices. We will draw on philosophical work by Miranda Fricker on epistemic oppression and work by Kristie Dotson on epistemic violence to raise normative concerns about these practices. We will also examine philosophical work on policing as we consider and assess school discipline in urban high schools along with restorative justice alternatives. Social movements challenging exclusionary racial practices in schools and the school-to-prison pipeline raise pressing philosophical questions and concerns. We will consider some of them reading works by José Medina, Michele Moody-Adams, and by Derrick Darby and Eduardo J. Martinez. (1) How should we think about the epistemology of protest against educational injustice? (2) How should we understand social movements to address it? (3) How can we ensure that inflexible social identities do not pose insurmountable obstacles to forming and sustaining coalitions vital to doing so? This interdisciplinary graduate seminar will appeal to students of social and political philosophy, social epistemology, philosophy of education, feminist philosophy, and the philosophy of race and racism.