Serene J. Khader
Assistant Professor of Women's Studies/Philosophy
Office: 125 Knapton
Office Hours: Fall 2009: MW 11-12 and W 5-6
Email: khader_serene@wheatoncollege.edu
Degrees
Ph.D., Stony Brook University
B.A., Clark Honors College, University of Oregon
Main Interests
Global/Development Ethics
Political Philosophy
Normative Ethics
Feminist Philosophy
Research Interests
I am interested in analyzing oppression and deprivation, understanding why liberalism sometimes has difficulty taking the needs and demands of oppressed and deprived people seriously, and reimagining liberalism in ways that allow it to take more seriously the needs of oppressed and deprived people.
My publications on the limits and possibilities of liberalism for oppressed and deprived people include work on equality for the cognitively disabled, work on women's reproductive rights, and work about the role of the concept of choice in international development ethics.
My current research focuses on the concept of adaptive preference-- that is, the idea that oppression and deprivation can shape people's desires in ways that make them complicit in perpetuating their own oppression and deprivation. I am currently completing a book on the concept of adaptive preference in development ethics. In this book I develop a liberalism-compatible justification of public intervention in the lives of people with adaptive preferences.
Teaching Interests
Feminist Theory
Global Ethics
Introduction to Women's Studies
Individual and Society
Normative Ethics
Transnational Feminisms
Selected Publications, Creative Work or Performances
Feminism, Adaptive Preferences, and Empowerment. Book Manuscript in Progress.
"NGOs, Charity and Justice" to be presented at the 2009 Eastern Division Meetings of the American Philosophical Association.
"Maternalism Against Paternalism: Caring Virtues for Development Practice." Presented at the 2009 conference of the Association for Feminist Ethics and Social Theory.
"Adaptive Preferences and Procedural Autonomy." Journal of Human Development and Capabilities 10. 2 (2009).
"When Equality Justifies Women's Subjection: Luce Irigaray's Critique of Equality and the Fathers' Rights Movement." Hypatia 23.4 (2008).
"Cognitive Disability, Capabilities, and Justice." Essays in Philosophy 9. 1 (2008).
Thinking With Irigaray. edited with Mary Rawlinson and Sabrina Hom. Forthcoming 2010.