Diversity Committee - American Society For Aesthetics

Diversity Committee

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The Diversity Committee of the American Society for Aesthetics serves to nourish and sustain an ethos of inclusivity in all aspects of the Society's activities and in the discipline of aesthetics more broadly. The committee works cooperatively with the Feminist Caucus on issues of sexuality and gender, as well as expanding the push for inclusivity into previously unaddressed areas. Participation in the committee's activities is open to all members of the ASA. To join this group, after a member logs into the ASA web site, the profile for "groups" on the home page will list groups available to join and Diversity Committee can be selected.

The committee hosts the Welcoming Luncheon at the ASA Annual Meeting. You may register for the committee luncheon when you register for the Annual Meeting. In conjunction with the program committee, the Diversity Committee often sponsors sessions at annual and regional meetings of the society.

Mentoring Program

The ASA has its own mentoring program. Our main objective is to provide a good support network not only for graduate students but also for junior faculty, especially those that come from diverse backgrounds which are typically underrepresented within the field of philosophy. For more information, please contact co-Directors John Gibson (John.Gibson@louisville.edu) and Andrew Kania (akania@trinity.edu).

Reading Group

The Diversity Committee has been organizing a reading group for the past two years. Previous books include Paul Taylor's Black is Beautiful and Oliver Leaman's Islamic Aesthetics. Announcements will be made before the first meeting for a new book. For more information, please contact the Chair of the Diversity Committee (Hannah Kim, hhkim@arizona.edu).

Irene H. Chayes New Voices Award

See our page for instructions and deadline.

Curriculum Diversification Grants

In 2015, 2016, and 2017 the Committee sponsored Curriculum Diversification grants that aim to promote diversity at the heart of mainstream aesthetics and philosophy of art. The eight grants of $5,000 each were awarded to Monique Roelofs, Hampshire College; Simon Fokt, University of Leeds; Meilin Chinn, Santa Clara University; Hans Maes, University of Kent; Mariana Ortega, John Carroll University; Christopher Jenkins, Oberlin Conservatory; Erich Hatala Matthes, Wellesley College; and Rossen Ventzislavov, Woodbury University.
They can all be found here: https://aesthetics-online.org/page/CurriculumGrants

The ASA Board of Trustees approved supplementary grants to the eight authors of these pages to update their curricula. These were posted in spring 2020.

ASA Co-sponsored Conferences

Through its Major Project Grants Initiative, the ASA has funded conferences of interest to the diversity committee. These conferences sometimes offer travel money for ASA student members to present their work.

Conference: Race, Art, and Aesthetics - September 29-30, 2017, Oberlin College.
Questioning Aesthetics Symposium: Black Aesthetics - March 31-April 1, 2017, Hampshire College.

Resources on Diversity

Black Studies Reading List for Philosophers of Art

Nicholas Whittaker, a member of the American Society for Aesthetics and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University, has prepared a list of recommended reading on Black Studies for Philosophers of Art. It is with great pride that it is published here with his permission.
For the complete list in Word Format, click here.

General Resources

MAP (Minorities and Philosophy): A collection of students in English-speaking philosophy departments that aims to examine and address issues of minority participation in academic philosophy. Through MAP's network, students can exchange ideas on topics related to minorities and philosophy, meet and support peers, and learn from other philosophy departments. MAP chapters can choose to provide their respective departments with regular feedback on the department climate.

UPDirectory: The UPDirectory publicizes information about philosophers who are members of traditionally underrepresented groups in philosophy. The purpose of the directory is to provide an easy-to-use resource for anyone who wants to learn more about the work of philosophers who belong to underrepresented groups within the discipline.

Women in Philosophy Task Force: an umbrella group that works to coordinate initiatives and intensify efforts to advance women in philosophy

Society of Young Black Philosophers: closed Facebook group designed to connect Black philosophy students and junior faculty for the purposes of helping the former gain tenure-track jobs and the latter gain tenure. Request permission to join.

Race and Aesthetics conference at Leeds University