Episode 11 - Philosopher Linda Martín Alcoff on Social Construction of Gender & Race

Linda M. Alcoff is a Panama-born American Philosopher from a family she describes as 'natural feminists.' She joins host Chloe Aftel for a deeply impactful conversation on how her upbringing contributes to her relation to Philosophy, the importance of considering class in conversations of feminism and equality, and the often dismissed sophistication of care work. The pair also discusses pressing issues of our time, such as social media and influencer impacts on our culture, the nuances of understanding oneself or others as victims or not, and how long-term social change is created.Highlights:Linda shares her background of moving to the United States as a child and assimilation to life in Florida;Her career path starting in physics and transitioning to philosophy due, in part, to the challenges faced as a female physicist in the 1970s;How holding a philosophical perspective on growth and change allows Linda to stay grounded.*TW: The pair discuss Linda’s research and work regarding rape perpetrators and victims.Linda Alcoff currently serves as a Professor of Philosophy at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, C.U.N.Y. She is a former President of the American Philosophical Association and was listed as the third most influential philosopher by Academic Influence in 2021. Her written work includes the following: Rape and Resistance: Understanding the Complexities of Sexual Violation (Polity 2018); The Future of Whiteness (Polity 2015); Visible Identities: Race, Gender and the Self (Oxford 2006), which won the Frantz Fanon Award for 2009; Real Knowing: New Versions of the Coherence Theory (Cornell 1996). Chloe Aftel has spent her career working in commercial photography, photojournalism, and film. She’s an established name in modern photography with work featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Playboy, Dazed & Confused, Vogue Germany, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue & more. Chloe has photographed victims of sexual violence, reported on Covid’s impact on the trans community, and gained access as the first reporter in the Covid wards of the West Coast’s hardest hit hospitals. She has covered underground abortion providers, the impact of gender pronouns on daily life, and clergy abuse. Her first book, “Outside and In Between,” is an award-winning anthology covering gender non-conforming people across America.Support The Other Pod on Patreon for episode extras and The Other Questions lightning round!Follow Chloe on Instagram @chloeaftel to stay up to date on new work.Find all episodes of The Other Pod here.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-other-pod-with-chloe-aftel--6567483/support.