Emmalon Davis

Emmalon Davis specializes in ethics, social and political philosophy, and epistemology, especially where these areas intersect with philosophy of race and feminist philosophy. Her research explores the social processes through which knowledge is collectively developed and disseminated within (and across) communities. In particular, she looks at how race and gender prejudice exert a distorting influence over these processes. Much of her work examines the epistemic exclusion of diverse practitioners within the academy. With a special focus on the underrepresentation of women and people of color in academic philosophy, her research aims to identify and ameliorate the epistemic challenges facing diverse practitioners in philosophy and in academic settings more generally.

Emmalon is committed to removing the barriers faced by underrepresented students in the university setting and to proactively creating social and pedagogical environments in which all learners can flourish. She has been a faculty mentor at the Princeton University Compass Workshop and the Rutgers Summer Institute for Diversity in Philosophy—both of which bring undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds together for philosophical discussion, networking, and mentorship opportunities—and she has led pedagogy workshops for graduate students on topics like developing inclusive syllabi and facilitating equitable classroom discussions. While at Indiana University, she served as a writing coach for the Groups Scholars Program, a fellowship program for first generation college students, and worked with independent scholars incarcerated in the Indiana Women’s Prison.

Research Area Keyword(s):

Epistemic injustice, epistemic labor, knowledge, feminist epistemology, philosophy of race