Contact Information
M/C 137
Office Hours
Biography
Emma Velez received her Ph.D. in Philosophy and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Penn State. They are currently an Assistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and affiliate faculty in Latina/Latino Studies and the Unit for Criticism and Interpretative Theory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Her research interests include Latina and Latinx decolonial feminisms, critical theory, feminist theory, and critical philosophy of race. Their work stages dialogues across disciplines and traditions in order to consider Latina and Latinx feminist contributions to decolonial theory as well as questions of identity, cross-cultural communication, and political marginalization particularly as they intersect with issues of race, gender, and sexuality.
Velez has published in The Journal of Speculative Philosophy and has co-edited special issues on the topic of decolonial feminisms in Hypatia and Critical Philosophy of Race. They are also currently working on a book project tentatively titled, Orienting Historias: Unraveling the Coloniality of Gender through Las Tres Madres.
Education
Ph.D. Philosophy and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Penn State
M.A. Philosophy | SUNY Stony Brook
B.A. Political Science and Philosophy | Oklahoma City University
Courses Taught
SP 2022 Intro to GWS; GWS Senior Seminar
FA 2021 Latinx Feminisms; Feminist Theories & Methods (graduate)
SP 2021 GWS Senior Seminar
FA 2020 Latinx Feminisms
External Links
Highlighted Publications
2023 Velez, Emma. "The Colonial Contract and the Coloniality of Gender: Decolonial Feminist Reflections on Charles Mills’s Racia-Sexual Contract," Critical Philosophy of Race: CPR After 10 (Accepted, Forthcoming 2023 ).
2023 Gallegos de Castillo, Lori and Emma D. Velez, “Self-Creation in Chicana Feminisms” in The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Existentialism, eds. Kevin Aho, Megan Altman and Hans Pedersen. Routledge. (Accepted; Forthcoming 2023)
2022 Velez, Emma. “Latina/o/x Feminist Philosophers.” Oxford Bibliographies in “Latino Studies". Ed. Ilan Stavans. New York: Oxford University Press, May 26. <https:// www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199913701/ obo-9780199913701-0270.xml?q=velez#.YpU39my2p0g>
2020 Velez, Emma. “Towards a ‘Care-ful Geopolitics’ of La Frontera in the Era of Trump,” The Journal of Speculative Philosophy (SPEP Issue), 34(3): 339-352.
2019 Velez, Emma. “Decolonial Feminism at the Intersection: a critical reflection on the relationship between intersectionality and decolonial feminism,” The Journal of Speculative Philosophy (SPEP issue), 33(3): 390-406.