American philosopher (born 1967)
Tommie Shelby
(born 1967) is an American
philosopher
. Since 2013, he has served as the Caldwell Titcomb Professor of African and African American Studies and of Philosophy at
Harvard University
, where he is the current chair of the Department of African and African American Studies. He is particularly known for his work in
Africana philosophy
,
social
and
political philosophy
,
social theory
(especially
Marxist theory
), and the
philosophy of social science
.
Education and career
[
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]
Shelby was the eldest of six children.
[1]
He was a self-described "
jock
" in high school, competing in
basketball
and
track
.
[1]
He earned his B.A. in philosophy from
Florida A&M University
in 1990 and his Ph.D. in philosophy with a certificate in
cultural studies
from the
University of Pittsburgh
in 1998.
[1]
[2]
His dissertation,
Marxism and the Critique of Moral Ideology
, was directed by
David Gauthier
.
Before moving to
Harvard University
as an assistant professor in 2000, he was an assistant professor of philosophy at
Ohio State University
from 1998 to 2000.
[1]
[3]
He was the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard from 2004 to 2007. Shelby is the second black scholar to be tenured in the philosophy department at Harvard. The first was
Kwame Anthony Appiah
, now a professor at
New York University
.
Shelby served as an editor of
Transition Magazine
and of the
Du Bois Review
. In 2015, he was elected to the
Pulitzer Prize
Board.
[4]
In June 2022, he was elected as the Board's 2022-2024 co-chair, serving alongside
Poynter Institute
President Neil Brown.
[5]
Shelby also was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in 2019.
[6]
Research areas and publications
[
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]
Shelby is the author of
We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity
(Harvard University Press, 2005).
[2]
The book discusses the history of black political thought from
Martin Delany
to
Malcolm X
and extrapolates a new theory for black political solidarity consistent with liberal values of individual liberty, social equality, and cultural tolerance.
Orlando Patterson
described the book as "contest[ing] the movement's central claims at a level of sociophilosophical sophistication that one rarely encounters."
[7]
Bill Lawson, in his review of Shelby's book in
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
, described it as a "provocative and insightful book." He continued, "Professor Shelby has done a great service to both philosophical and historical academic studies... What makes this book worth reading beyond the scholarship and its scholarly insights is Professor Shelby's attempt to move Black Nationalism into the post-civil rights era."
[8]
Shelby is also the co-editor of
Hip-Hop and Philosophy: Rhyme 2 Reason
with Derrick Darby.
[1]
[2]
In his review of the book,
Tommy J. Curry
said that it is "...a great work that inhabits the tension between the sterile thought of the academy and the rich lives of many young urban Americans."
[9]
Shelby also co-edited
Transition 99
with
Henry Louis Gates Jr.
,
K. Anthony Appiah
and
F. Abiola Irele
, and is the author of the entry on
Black Nationalism
in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online.
His second monograph,
Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform
, was published by the
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
in 2016.
[10]
[11]
His third book,
The Idea of Prison Abolition
, was published by
Princeton University Press
in 2022.
[12]
Shelby is the son-in-law of Harvard philosopher
Thomas Scanlon
.
[13]
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Phillip, Abby D. (2008-11-19).
"Living to Learn"
.
The Harvard Crimson
. Archived from
the original
on 2018-03-04.
- ^
a
b
c
"Tommie Shelby"
.
Harvard University
Department of Philosophy
. Archived from
the original
on 2018-03-04.
- ^
CV in pdf format
, Tommie Shelby website.
- ^
"Neil Brown of Tampa Bay Times and Tommie Shelby of Harvard University are elected to Pulitzer Prize Board"
, The Pulitzer Prizes, October 29, 2015.
- ^
https://www.pulitzer.org/news/neil-brown-and-tommie-shelby-elected-co-chairs-pulitzer-prize-board
- ^
"New 2019 Academy Members Announced"
. 17 April 2019.
- ^
Patterson, Orlando (January 8, 2006). "Being and Blackness".
New York Times
.
- ^
Lawson, Bill (June 4, 2006). "We Who Are Dark (Review)".
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
.
- ^
Curry, Tommy J. (2006). "Review of Hip Hop and Philosophy: Rhyme 2 Reason".
Kinesis
.
33
(2).
- ^
Ryerson, James (2016-11-18).
"Race in America After the Great Migration"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
2018-03-04
.
- ^
Semuels, Alana (2016-11-22).
"Rethinking America's 'Dark Ghettos'
"
.
The Atlantic
. Retrieved
2018-03-04
.
- ^
Shelby, Tommie (2022-11-15).
The Idea of Prison Abolition
. Princeton University Press.
ISBN
978-0-691-22975-1
.
- ^
Waslh, Colleen (2008-11-06).
"Looking at race, racism through a philosophical lens"
.
Harvard Gazette
. Archived from
the original
on 2018-03-04.
External links
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]
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