Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere

The Department of Political Science is hosting an alumni conference on April 17-18.

This conference and professionalization panel engages the ongoing projects of three alumni from the UF Department of Political Science PhD program. Drs. Lorna Bracewell (Flagler College), Mauro J. Caraccioli (Virginia Tech), and Manu Samnotra (University of South Florida) will be presenting work that cuts across disciplinary boundaries. Lorna Bracewell will begin our conference by presenting a co-authored piece on feminism and maternalist politics. Mauro J. Caraccioli will then follow with a presentation about the intersection of Spanish colonialism, religious colonial life, and racial hierarchy. On the second day of our conference, the final talk will be delivered by Manu Samnotra and will focus on Mahatma Gandhi and the politics of dignity. The conference will conclude with a professionalization panel that will offer a unique opportunity for attendees to listen to first-hand accounts of what it’s like to navigate the academic job market as a UF student. We hope to see you there!

EVENT SCHEDULE:

Monday April 17, Pugh Hall 210

1 – 1:50 p.m.
“This is a work for the mothers”: Strategic Maternalism Against the Far Right
Lorna Bracewell (presenter) Kristen Gary (discussant)

Recent debates over public school curricula, including “anti-CRT” initiatives and attacks on “gender ideology,” have led to a reinvigoration of maternalist politics in the United States. “Moms,” whether “for liberty,” “rising,” or “demanding action,” are entering the political arena to advocate for everything from red-flag laws to book bans. This recent uptick in the politicization of “moms” presents a challenge for feminists who have long been divided over political strategies centered on motherhood. Bracewell revives these debates to urge feminists to undertake a strategic reclamation of motherhood to counter the mom-led campaigns of the far-right.

2 – 2:50 p.m.
“Savage Pasts, Baroque Futures”: Racial Hierarchy and the Political Theology of Spanish Empire
Mauro J. Caraccioli (presenter) Daniel Zengotita (discussant)

While the intellectual history of religion in Colonial Spanish America is rife with treatises, polemics, and testimonies written during the so-called Spiritual Conquest of the New World (1511-1767), these writings remain neglected by political theorists. Caraccoioli’s work aims to demonstrate that one of the central pillars of the Spanish Empire was the dynamic exchange between religious intellectuals and racialized colonial subjects. In this talk, he weaves together two central threads behind the disempowerment of Black and Indigenous peoples in the Americas: racial hierarchy and whitewashed historiographies. An important piece to a larger historical puzzle emerges: how did enslaved peoples navigate political oppression across distinct geographic spaces?

Tuesday April 18, Anderson 216

9 – 9:50 a.m.
“Turning Operations?”: Notes Toward a Gandhian Politics of Dignity
Manu Samnotra (presenter) Walker Chavatel (discussant)

This presentation turns to the thought of Mahatma Gandhi to develop a novel account of dignity. Gandhi’s approach inverts some of the fundamental assumptions that guide prominent theoretical approaches to dignity, thereby potentially avoiding the pitfalls that these approaches inevitably face. Samnotra proposes encounters between Gandhi and prominent approaches to dignity (neo-Roman; “liberal”; Black Marxist) to map out an alternative politics of dignity.

10:15 – 11:00 a.m.

All three presenters will discuss how to navigate the academic job market during a professionalization panel.

Event Sponsors: Department of Political Science, Center for Humanities and the Public Sphere, University of Florida International Center, Center for Latin American Studies, Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies