Austin Gregory

= Exploration in Post-Structural and Modernist Philosophy  =

= --(Division II)-- =

My goal is to understand epistemology and hermeneutics as they apply to both the politics (power) of philosophy and the politics of race therein. For example, how do questions concerning the concepts of truth and justice run through African Diaspora studies or post-colonial/post-modern social theory? Furthermore, what are the power structures behind the professional concepts of truth and justice? Who gains—both historically and knowledge wise—from the various social constructions of truth and justice? I also want to examine theoretical mechanisms of oppression with a focus on the central movements to each respective area that pertains to the proponents and contexts of theoretical development/establishment.

For African Diaspora studies I'll be using an African American History course, African American and Reparations, The Afro Postmodern, and my Post-colonial Post-structuralist course. Key figures will include Aime Cesaire, Foucault, Frantz Fanon, Edouard Glissant, and J.P. Sartre. Key concepts will include the nomad, the rhizome, the geneaology, meta-narratives, capitalism, and the Hegelian dialectic. These concepts were all explained in the course I took during the first semester of my Division Two, Post-Modernity and Politics and were reiterated and further investigated in a post-colonialist/post-structuralist course and were completed with a seminar on Hegel that I traced back through these ideas/courses. My coursework mainly included studies in philosophy, anthropology, Black Studies, and history.

My last goal is to work on my writing, paper-structure, and argument development with the hopes of developing the skills to write analytical papers on how the central concepts of my Division Two function epistemologically and hermeneutically in social theory and philosophy.