Biography

Dr. Bailey Thomas (They/Them) is the Eleanor M. Carlson Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies. Previously, they were an Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2021-2022) and a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at Dartmouth College (2022-2024).

Thomas’s research focuses on bridging the gaps between epistemic, ethical, and political sphere through an argument for the integration of ethical and political frameworks into social epistemology. During their time at URI they will be assisting with the organization of the Mellon event series GWS will be hosting as well as a manuscript on the concept of care as a central component of Black American feminist political theory. Other projects include an analysis of epistemic erasure and appropriation of Black feminist thought. This project responds to the current challenge Black feminists face with the decontextualization and misapplication of Black feminist theory in issues of social justice and decolonization. They have published research towards this project in a peer-reviewed article, “Intersectionality and Epistemic Erasure: A Caution to Decolonial Feminism,” in Hypatia. Next, they to publish two articles that will use this research to advance the role of Black feminist theory in our understandings of social ethics, theories of social justice, and decoloniality.

In sum, Thomas’s work develops radical Black feminist approaches to understanding epistemological, political, and ethical aspects of structural oppression and the lived experiences of marginalized people.

Dr. Thomas is also the founder and director of the annual Roundtable for Black Feminist and Womanist Theory.