Dr. Alison Bailey was recently named University Professor by Illinois State University’s Office of the Provost.
Bailey shared that her journey into higher education began with her passion for social justice.
“I was a peace activist before I was a university professor,” Bailey said. “I never set out to teach philosophy, but I knew that I loved it. In hindsight, the moral and epistemic dimensions of social justice work have been at the heart of my scholarship for three decades. I also had the great fortune to come of age during what I consider to be the beginning of the Golden Age in feminist philosophy.”
Bailey added that she was mentored by brilliant thinkers who encouraged her to make her scholarship accessible to the general public.
“I want to make my work accessible to students who are interested in social change,” Bailey said. “College-aged students often become very passionate about current political issues but usually lack the conceptual vocabulary to make their arguments clear. As a philosopher, one of the things I try to do is to provide them with conceptual tools for their social justice toolkit.”
Bailey believes that politically active students are often vulnerable to jumping to conclusions before they have taken time to deeply consider their positions from all vantage points.
“It’s really common for people to respond reactively to issues they care about rather than reflectively,” she said. “Most of the public knowledge about feminism, anti-racism, or critical race studies comes to them third hand. So, the first thing I do is invite students to clearly formulate their arguments based on reliable sources. This means talking to experts and reading well-researched news sources, rather than getting their information through random internet searches or word of mouth.”
Bailey’s scholarship covers topics that philosophers have not engaged until recently.
“Over the course of my career, I’ve spent a great amount of time talking about feminist peace politics, and I became very interested in the philosophy of race in the ’90s,” she said. “My interests historically have focused on questions raised by the critical whiteness studies literature.”
Bailey has published two books, a co-authored textbook, and dozens of articles on feminist philosophy. Her most recent publication is The Weight of Whiteness (2021).
Her international reputation as a feminist scholar led her to recently be awarded the title of University Professor.
“It’s an honor to be chosen as University Professor,” Bailey said. “I’m the third woman to have received this honor since the award was established in 1974. I’m also the first faculty member from an interdisciplinary program to receive this honor.
“It says a lot about our university that they’re starting to notice, take seriously, and celebrate the accomplishments of scholars engaged interdisciplinary scholarship around issues of gender and race. It’s a small step in the right direction.”
