Philosophy
THE 2026 SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY WORKSHOP
Friday, 27 March 2026
About the Workshop
The Southern Journal of Philosophy Workshop aims to bring cutting-edge thinking to both classical and contemporary topics, with an eye toward encouraging bold new directions in philosophical thought.
This annual event is held in conjunction with the UofM and Wiley Publishing. Each year, the main proceedings are published in the final issue of the corresponding volume of the journal.
This year's speakers will honor Hortense J. Spillers ('64), whose scholarship has singularly advanced the fields of American literary criticism, cultural studies, black feminism and philosophies of race.
For more information, contact Jameliah Shorter-Bourhanou at jshrter1@memphis.edu.
Southern Journal of Philosophy Workshop 2026
鈥�Hortense J. Spillers 鈥�64,鈥�66鈥�
Directors: Jameliah Inga Shorter-Bourhanou (UofM), Mike Monahan (UofM) Devonya Havis (University at Buffalo), Kris Sealey (Penn State University), Mike Monahan
University of 蜜桃导航, Fountain View Room (University Center 350)
Friday, April 3rd
9:00 am 鈥� 9:30 am: Coffee and Pastries
9:30 am 鈥� 10:00 am: Welcome and Opening Remarks
Michael Monahan (University of 蜜桃导航)
Chair of Philosophy, Co-Director of SJP Workshop
Remy Debes (University of 蜜桃导航)
Editor of the Southern Journal of Philosophy
Devonya Havis (University at Buffalo)
Co-Director of SJP Workshop
10:00 am 鈥� 11:30 am: Session I
Anwar Uhuru (Wayne State University)
鈥淯ngendered not Sexuated: Hortense Spillers on the Symbolic Order鈥�
Justin Clardy (Santa Clara University)
鈥淎sexuality: Beyond Desire and Attraction鈥�
Moderator: Mary Beth Mader (University of 蜜桃导航)
11:30 am 鈥� 1:30 pm: Lunch
1:30 pm 鈥� 2:30 pm: Interview
Prof. Hortense J. Spillers, Emerita (Vanderbilt University)
Interviewer: Anwar Uhuru (Wayne State University)
2:30 pm 鈥� 3:00 pm: Coffee Break, Fountain View Lounge
3:00 pm 鈥� 4:00 pm: Session II (Graduate Student Panel)
Monaye Johnson (Brown University)
鈥淭ouching Performance: Reading Hortense Spillers in the Age of Affective Capture鈥�
Colin Stragar-Rice (Cornell University)
鈥淭he 鈥渨ar,鈥� as I have understood it鈥�: Hortense Spillers on the Crisis of the Black Intellectual and the Political Memory of Style鈥�
Natalie Lobach (Penn State University)
鈥淭he Play of Myth and Counter-Myth in American Discourse: On Hortense Spillers鈥� Philosophy of Language鈥�
Moderator: Emmanuel Carrillo (University of 蜜桃导航)
4:00 pm 鈥� 5:30 pm: Keynote
Namita Goswami (Indiana State University)
鈥淚naugurating Nothing More Than a Sketch of a Gambit: My Love Letter for Hortense Spillers鈥�
Moderator: Kris Sealey (Penn State University)
Co-Director of SJP Workshop
5:30 pm: Closing Remarks
Jameliah Shorter-Bourhanou (University of 蜜桃导航)
Co-Director of SJP Workshop
Southern Journal of Philosophy Workshop 2026
鈥淗ortense J. Spillers 鈥�64,鈥�66鈥�
Directors: Jameliah Inga Shorter-Bourhanou (UofM), Mike Monahan (UofM), Devonya Havis (University at Buffalo), Kris Sealey (Penn State University), Mike Monahan
University of 蜜桃导航, Fountain View Room (University Center 350)
Saturday, April 4th
9:00 am 鈥� 10:00 am: Coffee and Pastries
10:00 am: Welcome and Opening Remarks| Jameliah Shorter-Bourhanou (University of 蜜桃导航), Co-Director of the SJP Workshop
10:00 am 鈥� 11:30 am: Session III
Kimberly Lamm (Duke University) & Michael Eng (Appalachian State University)
鈥淗ortense Spillers: Writing the Voices of the Black Feminist Uncanny鈥�
Jasmine Wallace (Penn State University)
鈥淔lesh as Vestibule: Spillers, Modernity, and the Metaphysics of Passage鈥�
Moderator: Jameliah Shorter-Bourhanou (University of 蜜桃导航)
Co-Director of the SJP Workshop
11:30 am 鈥� 1:30 pm: Lunch
1:30 pm 鈥� 3:00 pm: Session IV
Julianne Mann (University of North Dakota)
鈥淰estibular Geographies: Lessons from Hortense Spillers for Environmental Kinship Ethics鈥�
Kevin P. Morris, II (UMass Amherst)
鈥淭he Carceral Imaginary: Black Flesh, Racial Capitalism and the Afterlives of Slavery鈥�
Moderator: Jessica Soester (University of 蜜桃导航)
3:00 pm 鈥� 3:30 pm: Coffee Break, Fountain View Lounge
3:30 pm 鈥� 5:00 pm: Session V (蜜桃导航 Panel)
Christopher Allan Black (University of 蜜桃导航)
鈥淐hallenging the Degendering of the Tragic Mulatto Republican Motherhood and Birthright Citizenship in Lydia Maria Child鈥檚 鈥淭he Quadroons鈥� (1842) and William Wells Brown鈥檚 Clotel or The President鈥檚 Daughter (1853)鈥�
Shiva Mainaly (University of 蜜桃导航)
鈥淔rom Enslaved Flesh to Deportable Data: American Grammar and the Racialization of the Human in the Age of AI鈥�
Moderator: Rhiannon Lindgren (University of 蜜桃导航)
5:00 pm: Reflections| Prof. Hortense J. Spillers, Emerita (Vanderbilt University)
Closing Remarks| Jameliah Shorter-Bourhanou, Co-Director of the SJP Workshop (University of 蜜桃导航)
~~~~~
The Workshop Directors, Jameliah Inga Shorter-Bourhanou, Mike Monahan, Kris Sealey (Pennsylvania State University), and Devonya Havis (University at Buffalo) wish to thank Prof. Hortense Spillers, Prof. Namita Goswami, and all of the conference speakers. Thank you for sharing your research, time, and energy with us! We hope you enjoyed your time here at the UofM!
Many thanks to Dr. Remy Debes who was always there when needed! We are also grateful for Tebatso Duba (PhD Candidate, University of 蜜桃导航) who served as the SJP 2026 Workshop Graduate Assistant. We also thank Angela Foster and Cathy Wilhelm of the Philosophy Department who helped to make this program a success. Thank you to the faculty and graduate students of the University of 蜜桃导航 who volunteered their energy and resources to help the workshop run smoothly.
Generous financial support was provided by Dr. Remy Debes and the Southern Journal of Philosophy/Wiley Publishing, Dr. Mike Monahan (Chair of Philosophy at the University of 蜜桃导航 and Co-Director of the SJP Workshop), the University at Buffalo, and the Pennsylvania State University.