Hady Ba: Director of Cultural and Scientific Activities

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Please join us in giving our hearty congratulations to Associate Research Scholar Hady Ba, who has just been appointed Director of Cultural and Scientific Activities at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar in Senegal.

 

Dr. Ba will is responsible for coordinating cultural and scientific activities at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, as well as implementing the policy of distributing knowledge produced by the university; both internally and externally to society at large.

 

Congratulations, once again! What an incredible accomplishment!

Keya Maitra (Ph.D. 2000): University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

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Please join us in congratulating Keya Maitra (Ph.D. 2000), who has accepted an offer from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa as a Professor in Classical Indian Philosophy and the Lenney Distinguished Chair. 

Department History

Established in 1936 under the leadership of Charles A. Moore and Wing-tsit Chan, the Department of Philosophy at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa dedicated itself to an ambitious but historically necessary project: the bringing together of Western and Eastern philosophers in a community of critical discourse. In the early stages, emphasis was placed on introducing Western philosophers to the major ideas and distinctive ways of thinking offered by Asian cultures.

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Unique among departments of philosophy in American universities, ours possesses the resources to support doctoral work in Indian, Buddhist, Chinese, and Japanese as well as Western philosophy.  During the 1960s, emphasis was placed on the development of language skills. Students were expected to attain a high level of competence in one or two languages (European or Asian) relevant to their area of research. At the present time the faculty is conversant in Greek, Latin, Arabic, German, French, Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese, and Japanese. Graduate students from countries such as Thailand, China, India, Pakistan, Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka have considerably enriched the diverse cultural and linguistic life of the Department.

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Being at once highly productive and extraordinarily diverse, the members of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa share in their commitment to the highest standards of intellectual integrity and together celebrate their rich tradition.

(excerpted from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa website)

Samuel Wheeler: Nonsite & American Philosophical Quarterly

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Please check out Professor Emeritus Samuel C. Wheeler III’s two recent publications!

 

His first article comes from nonsite, entitled “A Davidsonian version of Dissemination and Abandonment.” This piece covers a naturalistic Davidsonian account of language; that language is inherently unstable, with meaning constantly shifting due to the process of uttering and interpreting. This instability is reflected in how utterances can be iterated or copied, yet still carry different meanings depending on context.

 

You can read the full essay “A Davidsonian version of Dissemination and Abandonment” here.

 

Additionally, the second article will be published in American Philosophical Quarterly, entitled “Rescher (1964) and the semantics of `Most’.” This essay is still forthcoming.

Ting-an Lin: Human-Centered AI Seed Grant

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In a collaborative effort with Communication and Women’s, gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGGS) Professor Jiyoun Suk, the UConn Humanities Institute (UCHI) has awarded a “Human-Centered AI Seed Grant” to Assistant Professor Ting-an Lin! Professor Lin’s project, titled “Reimagining AI: Global AI Narratives on Social Media across the Global North and South”, examines “the global public narratives about artificial intelligence (AI) on social media by analyzing their roots, impacts, and variations across different geolinguistic regions.”

This study combines philosophical ideas with computational social science methods to explore the conversations between the Global North and South, aiming to highlight the power dynamics that influence public views on AI and, ultimately, help create more inclusive and fair AI design and governance.

 

Congratulations, Professor Ting-an Lin!

Kristin Waters (Ph.D. ’81): Frantz Fanon Award

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Please join us in congratulating alumna Kristin Waters (Ph.D. '81), who is one of the recipients of the 2025 Frantz Fanon Award for her book Maria W. Stewart and the Roots of Black Political Thought. The Frantz Fanon Prize is awarded annually in recognition of up to three works in or of special interest to Caribbean thought.

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Maria W. Stewart and the Roots of Black Political Thought tells a crucial, almost-forgotten story of African Americans of early nineteenth-century America. In 1833, Maria W. Stewart (1803–1879) told a gathering at the African Masonic Hall on Boston’s Beacon Hill: “African rights and liberty is a subject that ought to fire the breast of every free man of color in these United States.” She exhorted her audience to embrace the idea that the founding principles of the nation must extend to people of color. Otherwise, those truths are merely the hypocritical expression of an ungodly white power, a travesty of original democratic ideals. Like her mentor, David Walker, Stewart illustrated the practical inconsistencies of classical liberalism as enacted in the US and delivered a call to action for ending racism and addressing gender discrimination.

Between 1831 and 1833, Stewart’s intellectual productions, as she called them, ranged across topics from true emancipation for African Americans, the Black convention movement, the hypocrisy of white Christianity, Black liberation theology, and gender inequity. Along with Walker’s Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, her body of work constitutes a significant foundation for a moral and political theory that is finding new resonance today—insurrectionist ethics.

In this work of recovery, author Kristin Waters examines the roots of Black political activism in the petition movement; Prince Hall and the creation of the first Black masonic lodges; the Black Baptist movement spearheaded by the brothers Thomas, Benjamin, and Nathaniel Paul; writings; sermons; and the practices of festival days, through the story of this remarkable but largely unheralded woman and pioneering public intellectual.

Tracy Llanera: Beyond the Ghetto

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Congratulations to Associate Professor Tracy Llanera, who has a new public piece published in Beyond the Ghetto. “Well-Played: A Commentary on Professional Philosophy,” originates from the short talk Llanera gave at World Philosophy Day Event: Metaphilosophy Workshop organized by the Philosophy Graduate Student Association (PGSA) and the UConn Department of Philosophy.

The essay is a part of a special issue in metaphilosophy, including contributions by members of Women Doing Philosophy, a global feminist organization of Filipino philosophers that also operates Beyond the Ghetto. A short excerpt from Llanera’s article can be found below:

There are two prominent ways of practicing professional philosophy in the twenty-first century. … The way I see it, philosophy is either played like a game or staged as a drama.

You can read the full series, including Dr. Llanera’s piece, here. 

Congratulations, Tracy!

Philosophy and Global Affairs Vol. 4, no. 2

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Please check out the newest issue of Volume 4 of the Philosophy and Global Affairs journal edited by Professors Jane Gordon and Lewis Gordon of the political science and philosophy departments respectively.

You can read a statement from Lewis about the contents of the journal below:

“[This issue] includes essays on feminist conceptions of anger in philosophy and religious thought from renowned feminist philosopher Noelle Leslie dela Cruz and renowned feminist scholar of religious thought Judith Plaskow, an essay on postcolonial archives by Benjamin P. Davis, a tribute by Jane Anna Gordon to sociologist and philosopher Paget Henry, an article by Larry Alan Busk on Amílcar Cabral on the distinction between the people and the population, an article by Benjamin Stumpf on the underground newsletter The Red Dragon, an article by Derefe Kimarley Chevannes on decolonizing Caribbean modernity, followed by a symposium on Alena Wolflink’s Claiming Value: The Politics of Priority from Aristotle to Black Lives Matter, and three book reviews.”

A big thank you to UConn’s Global Affairs for their continued generous support.

 

You can read the newest issue here.

 

Tracy Llanera: Institute of Art and Ideas – London

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Check out Associate Professor Tracy Llanera’s newest piece, “Everything doesn’t happen for a reason: The myth of modern stoicism.” You can check out the piece on IAI’s website for free.

Below is an excerpt of the article:

When I was younger, hearing “everything happens for a reason” while lying face-down in the muck made me uncomfortable. Now, it sets me off. The reason is simple: the idea that every little thing is set in stone is a morally misguided philosophy. It suggests that all kinds of pain and suffering are unavoidable, that the injustices and cruelties plaguing our short lives are not only inescapable but in some ludicrous way even deserved, and that there’s nothing we can do differently as human beings to change our fate. These are the loaded claims behind “it’s meant to be” and “it is what it is,” colloquialisms of fatalist, unreflective stoicism tendered by well-meaning souls.

Congratulations, Tracy!

Michael Lynch: Psychology Today

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In preparation for the launch of his new book On Truth in Politics: Why Democracy Demands It, Professor Michael Patrick Lynch has written two articles on Psychology Today addressing the state of political truth in modern democracy.

 

His first article, “Why Does Everything Seem Political?” defines and discusses political meaning:

Political meaning, in particular, emerges from the associations communities attach to things. Politics is an activity aimed at resolving collective problems among communities. It reflects the perceived contributions of actions, objects, or ideas to political debates. In this sense, political meaning is all about perception.

 

While his second article, “Has Meta’s Fact-Checking Exit Put Truth at Risk?” directly confronts media company Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp) newest decision that will end anti-disinformation programs across their sites:

In its recent announcement, Meta declared that it is ending its anti-disinformation program, stating a commitment to “more speech and fewer mistakes” (Meta, 2025). Given the size and global reach of their platforms, this is not just a blow against systematic and professional fact-checking online; it is a blow against the very idea of fact-checking—and that’s a problem for democracy.

 

You can pre-order his new book, On Truth in Politics: Why Democracy Demands It on Bookshop or Amazon.

Congratulations, Michael!