DERPs and Their Exclusionary Conferences

It’s a big weekend for DERPs and their conferences. You may recall (as I indicated here) that DERPs is the acronym for Disabled Exclusionary Righteous Philosophers, the term that I coined to refer to philosophers who (apparently without shame) variously organize, attend, participate in, promote, or fund inaccessible– that is, exclusionary–and unsustainable philosophy conferences. Here […]

Philosophy, Disability, and Social Change 6 (#PhiDisSocCh6)!

As readers and listeners of BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY may recall, I organized the first five editions of Philosophy, Disability, and Social Change conferences (links to the videos of which are available here) with the support of Jonathan Wolff under the auspices of the Alfred Landecker Chair in the School of Government at the University of Oxford. […]

In-Person Philosophy Conferences as a Mask for Academic Imperialism

In an article published at CBC News on Friday, Natalie Stechyson writes the following: some employers in both the private and public sector are mandating that many workers have to come back full time.  As a growing number of Canadians once again find themselves cramming public transit and clogging highways to get to their workplaces, you might be wondering: […]

Quote of the Week (and It’s Only Thursday): Hypatia’s Ableist Legacy, co-authored with Nora Berenstain

This week’s quote-of-the-week post (though it’s only Thursday) addresses the historical legacy of ableism at Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy. To open our discussion in the post, consider an excerpt from Shelley’s introduction to The Bloomsbury Guide to Philosophy of Disability. The introduction, which is entitled “Situating Philosophy of Disability in/out of Philosophy,” offers a summary […]

How Do the PPN and DERPs Define Public Philosophy?

I felt both compelled and reluctant to email my friend Tracy Isaacs to express my dismay that she is on the program for the upcoming October conference of the Public Philosophy Network (PPN). The conference will take place in the epicenter of downtown Hamilton at a satellite campus of McMaster University that is located in […]

Quote of the Week (and It’s Only Thursday): Hypatia’s Ableist Legacy, co-authored with Nora Berenstain

This week’s quote-of-the-week post (though it’s only Thursday) addresses the historical legacy of ableism at Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy. To open our discussion in the post, consider an excerpt from Shelley’s introduction to The Bloomsbury Guide to Philosophy of Disability. The introduction, which is entitled “Situating Philosophy of Disability in/out of Philosophy,” offers a summary […]

CFP: Feminist Re-readings of Foucault, Hybrid, Nov. 7, 2025 (deadline: Jun. 18, 2025)

Since the 1980s, Michel Foucault’s legacy in feminist theory and practice has been the subject of sustained and critical debate. His analyses of power, subjectivation, biopolitics, and governmentality have opened up fertile conceptual avenues for thinking about gender, sex, and sexuality. Yet they have also prompted significant critique: the absence of a theory of patriarchy, […]