HOTEL BAR SESSIONS is back for Season 2… and we’ve got an exciting new line-up of hosts to announce!
Just like in Season 1, the second season of HOTEL BAR SESSIONS will feature three philosophers bellying up to an imaginary hotel bar, which is where anyone who’s ever been to a conference knows the real philosophy gets done. We’ve got an ambitious list of topics to cover this season, so mark your calendars now because WE’LL START DROPPING NEW EPISODES EVERY FRIDAY BEGINNING JULY 2, 2021!
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Let’s meet the Season 2 HBS co-hosts!
Dr. Charles F. Peterson
Associate Professor/Chair of Africana Studies and Director of the Gertrude B. Lemle Teaching and Learning Center, Oberlin College
Research Interests: Africana Philosophy, Political Theory, Cultural Studies (Film, Music), Marxism, Aesthetics
Birthplace: Gary, IN
Present Space: Oberlin, OH
Today’s Narrative (subject to change): My interest in Philosophy developed out of being distracted from pursuing a career in law. My interest blossomed despite being exposed to the European canon. At Morehouse College, I was introduced to the rich tradition of African Diasporic thinkers, who by the standards of mainstream philosophy aren’t considered philosophers. In grad school I attended SUNY Binghamton’s Philosophy, Interpretation and Culture program. PIC was an open curriculum program, where I was able to take courses outside of the department course offerings. I don’t have a methodology, I have questions. I tend to work inter-disciplinarily, voicing my concerns across bodies of knowledge. Feeling like someone coming from the margins, my ideas, relationship and hopefully practice of philosophy, may not fit comfortably in easy categories. I have never taught in a Philosophy department and believe myself all the better for it. I am a co-editor of De-colonizing the Academy (Africa World Press, 2001), author of DuBois, Fanon, Cabral: The Margins of Anti-colonial Leadership (Lexington Books, 2007) and the forthcoming Beyond Civil Disobedience: Social Nullification and Black Citizenship (Palgrave McMillan, 2021). My next project is a graphic novel.
My interests: I dig music (“I love music/Any kind of music!” Eddie Levert), play guitar at a campfire level of competence and am lead vocalist in a “Dad” band. I love film and have taken workshops in filmmaking. Scorcese, Malick, Lee and (Barry) Jenkins are some of my film likes. Spielberg and Lucas are a couple of my film dislikes. I am a huge comic nerd and proudly have a collection of over 4K issues. I love futbol (Liverpool, just so you know) and think traveling is the real education.
Looking Ahead: My goals are to not be troubled by the workings of the world, surprised by evil nor paralyzed by despair.
You can find me online by clicking the icons below:
Dr. Richard A. Lee
Professor of Philosophy, DePaul University
Rick Lee is Professor of Philosophy at DePaul University in Chicago, which also happens to be his hometown. He really loves Chicago and is always happy to talk about its history (including the native peoples who lived in the area), its politics, and its deep problems. He works in the areas of medieval European philosophy, Marx, and the Frankfurt School. He insists that metaphysics is the level at which most normative questions are played out and so is a proud metaphysician. He is currently finishing a book on the history of the philosophy of comedy (a book that is not really all that funny).
His recent published work includes The Force of Reason and the Logic of Force (Palgrave-St. Martin’s, 2002), and Science, the Singular, and the Question of Theology (Palgrave-St. Martin’s, 2002), The Thought of Matter: Materialism, Conceptuality, and the Transcendence of Immanence (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015), as well as essays in journals such as Telos, Hobbes Studies, Vivarium, and The Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal.
Rick Lee is not into writing website bios.
Click on the links below to connect to Rick on social media:
Dr. Leigh M. Johnson
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Christian Brothers University
I’m baaaaaaack! This is my second season in the HBS co-host’s chair and I’m very excited chop it up with Charles and Rick this time around! Here’s the Season 2 version of my bio:
BACKGROUND: I did my B.A. in Philosophy at The University of Memphis (2000), my M.A. in Philosophy at Villanova University (2003), and my PhD in Philosophy with a Doctoral Minor in African and African-American Studies at The Pennsylvania State University (2007). I wrote my dissertation on truth commissions and transitional justice.
PHILOSOPHICAL PROFILE: Derridean, closet Kantian, existentialist, feminist, antiracist, antifascist, socialist, and insufferably pro-posthuman technophile. I tend to think in terms of systems– political, social, ethical, philosophical, informational, economic, linguistic, textual– and I look for the places in systems where pressure and intervention might open up interesting new possibilities. I love metaphysics, but hate the word “ontology.” I think every ethics implies a politics, and vice versa. I’m a pronoun agnostic (who will happily refer to you by whatever pronouns you prefer). I’m convinced that AI-enabled technology could make the world a much better place, but only if control of it can be wrested from the hands of our capitalist overlords. (Si, se puede!) I would put the over/under for human extinction at 200 years and I would confidently bet the under. I actually love to have my mind changed, but it’s hard to do.
PREVIOUS PODCAST: Black Mirror Reflections (22 episodes)
THE ESSENTIALS: From Memphis, currently reside in Memphis, loooove Memphis. I live with my artist-partner, Kassandra Line, who is a sculptor, metalworker, and amazingly talented jeweler who specializes in bespoke pieces. (Check out her stuff!) I’m a blogger, amateur musician, photographer, and documentary filmmaker. Kassandra and I have three pets: Molly (10yo spoiled Labrador), Champion (6yo moody rescue cat), and Rascal T. Biscuit (a kitten who we got during COVID lockdown, who spent her first year being constantly doted over, and thus who lives her whole life as if the there are no predators in the world).
Current life goal: Live like Rascal.
I’m very loud and opinionated. I love stimulating conversations– the more random, the better– and I genuinely enjoy a good argument. (Caveat: you should always allow your interlocutors a graceful exit from an argument!) Now in my late-40s, I have zero patience for (what my grandmother would call) “any of that nonsense.” Meanness, injustice, unfairness, and lazy relativism infuriate me.
I sing in the shower and the car (and most everywhere else, to be honest). I am very online. I believe cabbage is the greatest vegetable and that the singularity is near. The best songs are three chords and a sad story.
You can find me on Al Gore’s internet at the following places:
