Professional philosophy suffers from a lack of representation from a number of marginalized groups along different categories including at least race, gender, ability, and economic status. In response to this fact, I try to orient my philosophical activities inside and outside the classroom to encourage people from under-represented groups to study philosophy and to combat the implicit biases that I have.
Inside the classroom, I believe that highlighting the contributions that people from under-represented groups have made while also are explicitly discussing the historical and contemporary lack of diverse voices in philosophy both needed. I want students to know that philosophy ought not be a conversation just among white males. This starts with diversifying the syllabus. I take “diversifying the syllabus” to include assigning readings by diverse philosophers and assigning topics related to race, gender, sexuality, disability, etc. In teaching, I have discovered that diversifying the syllabus has enhanced the class for all the students by widening the topics covered. For example, in a Human Nature class, we read a paper on disability before reading a paper on human enhancements. The two topics fit together nicely and the juxtaposition gave the students a lot to think and write about. If we had just done the disability readings at the end and not connected them to other readings, it may have felt like a token gesture then a genuine avenue for philosophical thought. This may seem more challenging in a history focused class or logic. If there are only a few female philosophers, for example, mentioned in a history class, then it is the teacher’s responsibility to explicitly note that’s the case and point out to the students that many of the best philosophers working today are women. In a logic class, it be helpful to say that logic is not something for males and that many women e.g. Ruth Barcan Marcus have contributed to logic.
It is important for all students to participate; to that end I make an effort to reach out to students either by email or talking to them after class to try and encourage class participation from students who are engaged but quiet. While these students have not been exclusively female or non-white, the majority have. The students have always been encouraged that I noticed their engagement and most have made serious efforts to speak more in class. At least one of these students changed her major to philosophy. In an effort to combat my own implicit biases, I have the students anonymize papers before turning them in.
Outside of the classroom, I led a local Philosophy for Kids program at a public school with a majority of non-white students and a large amount of economic diversity. The program introduced philosophy to a diverse group of middle school students. I organized the Syracuse Philosophy Graduate Conference one year and participated in its planning in other years. For that conference, we anonymize all submissions and explicitly encourage submissions from under-represented groups. We have also made a point to invite keynote speakers from under-represented groups.