Research
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This dissertation explores two central themes commonly found in feminist literature: 1) the use of rape as a tool and method of political domination, and 2) the utilization of personal experience to organize a collective, communal critique. In feminist theory addressing sexual violence, these two ideas are closely intertwined. Developing a communal and collective critique against rape as a tool of domination often emerges from the sharing of personal experiences, a practice known in feminist circles as “consciousness raising.” Feminist philosophers have extensively discussed the power of consciousness raising in developing political concepts, critiquing the status quo, and connecting gendered oppression with other forms of oppression, such as class and race. Specifically, feminist scholars of sexual violence have advocated for the practice of sharing personal experiences to achieve legal advancements, such as expanding the definitions of “rape” and “sexual harassment” to encompass more experiences. However, there has been a noticeable silence or ambivalent acceptance in the literature regarding the reliance on carceral structures to secure these gains. When feminist philosophers frame the production of legal concepts as the solution to the problem of rape, this implicitly relies on a narrative framing that signals the cause of sexual violence to be merely bad actors. Carceral solutions become a solution to this because it 1. captures the bad actors and imprisons them, and 2. operates as a deterrent for other bad actors. In my view, this narrative framing is neither necessary nor sufficient as an explanatory cause of rape, so we attend to survivor experiences to examine causality and imagine political solutions.
My dissertation contributes to feminist social epistemology and narrative hermeneutics and intervenes in wider debates on anti-rape and anti-carceral politics. I revisit feminist arguments that validate and celebrate consciousness raising to explore how these arguments function when taking seriously the concerns of abolitionist feminists. Can we understand practices of concept creation (which emerge from and elucidate survivors’ lived experience) in terms which do not presume visibility, disclosure, and legibility to the police? How can survivors achieve justice without relying on carceral institutions or state recognition? These are questions I address by rethinking the conceptual practice of consciousness raising. Ultimately, I employ a theoretical approach to storytelling and political critique, drawing inspiration from the works of Michel Foucault and Saidiya Hartman. These two theorists offer insights into storytelling as embedded within a preexisting social framework, which helps reveal the questions posed by abolitionist feminists as they envision an anti-rape politics that is also anti-carceral.
By returning to prominent feminist discussions on political strategies to end rape, I argue that the political goal of critiquing and abolishing prisons is not just an important question but an intertwined project for feminist anti-rape politics. A reliance on a harmful, violence, and oppressive criminal justice system does not enable survivors to achieve justice, nor can it aid in the mobilization of politics that seeks feminist liberation from violence. My dissertation offers a step towards imagining political accountability and survivor justice that seeks the end of rape and the myriad of oppressions that enable, produce, and maintain it.
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"Narrative Care: A Political Method of Survivor Self-Making and Communal Critique." APA Studies On Feminism and Philosophy, vol 23, no.1. Fall 2023
Book Review on Kate Manne's Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women. Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, 43 (1):194-198.
Book Review for Cynthia Willette's Interspecies Ethics. co-written with Derek Turner. Quarterly Review of Biology, 91 (2): 202.
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Abstracts and titles excluded for review but are available upon email request.
An article on survivor storytelling as a process of social legibility.
An article co-written with colleague Michael Greer on taking back the work "fat" and its political possibilities.
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