Emily S. Lee, Ph. D

Professor, Department of Philosophy

Degrees

2005, Ph.D, State University of New York at StonyBrook

2001, M.A., State University of New York at StonyBrook

1994, B.A, Barnard College, Columbia University

Research Areas

Phenomenology, especially of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Feminist Philosophy, and Philosophy of Race.

Publications

Full CV

Books:

A Phenomenology for Women of Color: Merleau-Ponty and Identity-in-Difference, (New York, Lexington Books), January 2024.

Race as Phenomena: Between Phenomenology and Philosophy of Race , ed. Emily S. Lee (London, UK: Rowman & Littlefield, Intl.), July 2019.

Living Alterities: Phenomenology, Embodiment, and Race, ed. Emily S. Lee (New York: SUNY Press), April 2014.

Articles:

1. "Intersectionality," The Routledge Handbook of Political Phenomenology, eds Steffen Hermann, Gerhard Thonhauser, Sophie Loidolt, Tobias Matzner, and Nils Baratella, 384-397. New York: Routledge (2024).

2. “Dialectic vs. Phenomenological Readings of Fanon: On the Question of Inferiority Complexes,” Chiasmi International special issue on “Critical Phenomenology after Merleau-Ponty.” v. 24 (2022): 275-291.

3. "The Possibility of Emotional Appropriateness for Groups Identified with a Temperament,” Transforming Politics: Thinking Beyond the State with Merleau-Ponty, ed. Jerome Melancon. (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2021); 13-31.

4. "Model Minority," 50 Concepts for a Critical Phenomenology, eds. Gail Weiss, Ann Murphy, and Gayle Salamon. (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2019); 231-236.

5. “A Phenomenology of Seeing and Affect in a Polarized Climate,” Race as Phenomena: Between Phenomenology and Philosophy of Race, ed. Emily S. Lee. (London, UK: Rowman and Littlefield, Intl., 2019); 107-124.

6. "A Problem with Conceptually Relating Race and Class: Regarding the Question of Choice," Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, v. 39, n. 2 (2017): 349-368.

7. “Identity-in-Difference to Avoid Indifference,” The Future of Feminist Phenomenologies, eds. Helen Fielding and Dorothea Olkowski. (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2017); 313-327.

8. “Postcolonial Ambivalence and Phenomenological Ambiguity: Toward Recognizing Asian American Women’s Agency,” Critical Philosophy of Race, v. 4, n. 1 (2016): 56-73.

9. "The Ambiguous Practices of the Inauthentic Asian American Woman," Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, v. 29, no. 1 (Spring 2014): 146-163.

10. "Body Movement and Responsibility for a Situation," Living Alterities: Phenomenology, Embodiment, and Race, ed. Emily S. Lee (Albany: SUNY Press, 2014); 233-254.

11. “The Epistemology of the Question of Authenticity, in place of Strategic Essentialism,” Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, v. 26, no. 2 (Spring 2011): 258-279.

12. “Madness and Judiciousness: A Phenomenological Reading of a Black Woman’s Encounter with a Saleschild,” Convergences: Black Feminism and Continental Philosophy. Eds. Maria Lupe Davidson, Kathryn Gines, and Donna-Dale Marcano. Albany: SUNY Press (2010): 237-248.

13. “A Phenomenology for Homi Bhabha’s Postcolonial Metropolitan Subject,” The Southern Journal of Philosophy v. xlvi, no. 4 (Winter 2008): 537-557.

14. “Towards a Lived Understanding of Race and Sex,” Philosophy Today (SPEP Supplement 2005): 82-88.

15. “The Meaning of Visible Differences of the Body,” American Philosophical Association Newsletter on the Status of Asian/Asian Americans v. 2, no. 2 (Spring 2003): 34-37.5

Scholarly Work

Musings, Interviews, Book Reviews, Translations, and Misc.:

1. “Phenomenology of Race: Identity, Relationality, and Racism: About the book ‘A Phenomenology for Women of Color: Merleau-Ponty and Identity-in-Difference’,” Politics and Rights Review (July 15, 2024): https://politicsrights.com/phenomenology-race-identity-relationality/

2. “Emily S. Lee, A Phenomenology for Women of Color: Merleau-Ponty and Identity-in-Difference," interview with Sarah Tyson on New Books in Philosophy, (April 2024): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-books-in-philosophy/id426208821?i=1000653046554

3. "Acknowledging Intra-Minority Conflict, towards Heterogenous Commonality," American Philosophical Association Newsletter on the Status of Asian/Asian Americans, (2023).

4. “Emily Lee,” interview with The Global Existential Summit, January, 2023. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-global-existential-summit-mission-2-tickets-437149444757?aff=esfb&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-source=fb&utm-term=listing&fbclid=IwAR3aLcv0EcHQxpdnlt-w46RIYNFCEyHX49IyllLUDgrYMJFVdUclOr1qBFQ

5. “Acknowledging Intra-Minority Conflict: Anti-Asian Hate Crimes and the Intersectionality of Race and Class,” American Philosophical Association Blog, (June 13, 2022). https://blog.apaonline.org/2022/06/13/acknowledging-intra-minority-conflict-anti-asian-hate-crimes-and-the-intersectionality-of-race-and-class/

6. “What is a Model Minority,” interview with “Why? Philosophical Discussions about Everyday Life,” with Jack Russell Weinstein, National Public Radio, North Dakota, March, 2022. https://philosophyinpubliclife.org/2022/03/15/what-is-a-model-minority-with-guest-emily-s-lee/

7. “A Small Act of Rebellion towards Philosophy as a Gift,” American Philosophical Association Newsletter on the Status of Asian/Asian Americans, special Issue on “What is it Like to be a Philosopher of Asian Descent?” v. 20, n. 1 (Fall 2020); 38-39.

8. “Towards Home: Musings of an Immigrant,” Colloquiums (June 11, 2019): https://www.rowmaninternational.com/blog/towards-home-musings-of-an-immigrant

Reprinted on Medium: https://medium.com/colloquium/towards-home-musings-of-an-immigrant-b67ef6ab957e

9. "Asian, American, Woman, Philosopher," interview in "The Stone," blog in The New York Times with George Yancy, (April 6, 2015): http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/emily-s-lee/?_r=0

Republished in On Race: 34 Conversations in this Time of Crisis, ed. George Yancy, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017); 231-237.

10. Co-editor with David Haekwon Kim, American Philosophical Association Newsletter on the Status of Asian/Asian Americans v. 14, n. 1 (Fall 2014): http://faculty.washington.edu/c3/Lee_2014.pdf

11. "An Unruly Theory of Race," co-authored with David Haekwon Kim, Eduardo Mendieta, Mickaella Perina, and Falguni A. Sheth, Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, vol. 27, no.4 (November, 2012): 898-921.

12. “Merleau-Ponty and Philosophy of Race,” Berfrois, (October 26, 2012): http://www.berfrois.com/2012/10/emily-lee-maurice-merleau-ponty/.

13. “What Lies Ahead: Envisioning New Futures for Feminist Philosophy,” co-written with Kristen Intemann, Kristin McCartney, Shireen Roshanravan, and Alexa Schriempf, Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, 25th Anniversary Issue, 2010 v. 25 no. 4 (Winter 2010): 927-934.

14. Book review of Sue Campbell, Letitia Meynell, and Susan Sherwin’s Embodiment and Agency, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, (February 2010): https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/embodiment-and-agency/.

15. “Ode to a Pot,” American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy v. 8, no. 1 (Fall 2008): 17-18.

16. Book review of Dorothea Olkowski and Gail Weiss’s Feminist Interpretations of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy, v. 7 no. 2 (Spring 2008): 24-26.

17. Book review of Janet Kourany’s The Gender of Science, Teaching Philosophy v. 27, no. 2 (June 2004): 193-195.

18. Translation of Francoise Dastur’s “The Call of Conscience: The Most Intimate Alterity,” Heidegger and Practical Philosophy. Eds. Francois Raffoul and David Pettigrew. Albany: SUNY Press, 2002. Co-translated with David Allison.