Edinburgh Minorities and Philosophy (MAP) Chapter

Goals

• To increase visibility of underrepresented groups in Philosophy, through holding a space for minorities and their academic contributions
• To challenge and expand the discussions and methods in Philosophy, through encouraging ways of doing philosophy that have been historically marginalised
• To raise awareness of prejudices and implicit biases against students and academics from underrepresented groups, through facilitating open discourse on equality and diversity

History

The Edinburgh MAP Chapter (EMAPC) was previously the Edinburgh Women in Philosophy Group (EWPG). In 2009, EWPG held its first event, a Women in Philosophy postgraduate seminar, which explored the challenges facing women in Philosophy. Since then, EWPG has remained an active and indispensable part of Edinburgh’s Philosophy community. In 2014, EWPG became a Chapter of MAP UK. In 2020, EWPG was officially rebranded as EMAPC.

Three cheers for the Edinburgh Women in Philosophy Group! What a splendid idea, and beautifully timed to catch the rising current of awareness about women in philosophy. I warmly applaud this initiative. Edinburgh is a marvellous place to do philosophy, and you are going to help make it even better for women. I wish I could be there to join your efforts.

Professor Rae Langton

Current events

EMAPC has been running the James McCune Smith reading group since 2020.

James McCune Smith reading group

Texts read and discussed include:

• The Works of James McCune Smith: Black Intellectual and Abolitionist (Collected Black Writings) (2006)
• Jacob Crane’s ‘Razed to the Knees’: The Anti-Heroic Body in James McCune Smith’s ‘The Heads of Colored People’ (2018)
• Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia (1982).

As part of the MAP-EPiPHENy Reading Group Collab:

• Joe Street’s The Shadow of the Soul Breaker: Solitary Confinement, Cocaine, and the Disintegration of Huey P. Newton (2015)
• Parts of Lisa Guenther’s Solitary Confinement: Social Deaths and Its Afterlives (2013) have also been explored.

EMAPC is also running the MAP Chatter Group. This is an informal and inclusive discussion group for exploring various issues that concern marginalised groups in the philosophy community. For more information, please contact Andrew Zelny.

Past events

New Enlightenment Lectures

From 2012 to 2022, a New Enlightenment Lecture was held annually, which featured a prominent woman philosopher leading a roundtable discussion with postgraduate students and faculty members on gender issues in Philosophy, and delivering a keynote lecture on a topic of her choice.

• 2012: Professor Catherine Wilson (Aberdeen)
• 2013: Professor Katherine Hawley (St Andrews)
• 2014: Professor Rae Langton (Cambridge)
• 2015: Professor Alison Wylie (Washington/Durham)
• 2016: Professor Adina Roskies (Dartmouth)
• 2017: Professor Helen Beebee (Manchester)
• 2018: Professor Genia Schönbaumsfeld (Southampton)
• 2019: Professor Lucy O’Brien (UCL)
• 2022: Professor Lisa Bortolotti (University of Birmingham)

Spring workshops

From 2011 to 2019, EWPG held multiple Spring Workshops. Each workshop comprised a one-day event, where invited speakers delivered talks on a chosen topic. Some of the topics explored were: the objectification of women, under-representation of women in Philosophy, issues of philosophical methodology, ignorance, underrepresentation and implicit bias, philosophy of education, philosophy of love, family and relationship, and Eastern philosophy.

These events were possible thanks to the generous support of Philosophy at Edinburgh, PPLS and the Scots Philosophical Association.

Contacts

Philosophy Equality & Diversity Director: Filipa Melo Lopes

For more information about EMAPC (e.g. to be on its mailing list, join the James McCune Smith reading group, join the committee, or find out about upcoming events), please contact Ellie Palmer or Rory Wilson. For more information about the James McCune Smith reading group, please contact Katie Moody or James Morrissey.

More information

For an archive of other past events from 2009-2013, please see:

• Document

  Diversity in philosophy events archive (24.92 KB / PDF)

Philosophy at Edinburgh subscribes to the Good Practice Scheme of the British Philosophical Association (BPA) and SWIP UK.

The Diversity Reading List was established by Dr Simon Fokt as an open repository of philosophical readings by minority authors. By including more of these texts in lectures, tutorials, seminars and philosophical discussions in general, we can work towards increasing visibility of underrepresented groups in Philosophy.

Diversity reading list