Briana Toole received her PhD in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research examines the tension between traditional epistemology and standpoint epistemology, and motivates standpoint epistemology as a theoretical framework necessary for understanding epistemic oppression. Briana is the founder of the philosophy outreach program, Corrupt the Youth.
What are you most proud of in your professional life?
Right now what I’m most proud of is Corrupt the Youth, the philosophy outreach program that I started while a graduate student at UT Austin. When I began working on Corrupt the Youth, I really just envisioned a program working out of UT with high school students in the Austin area. But then other people expressed interest in starting chapters – notably, Rima Basu, Maegan Fairchild, and Gabbrielle Jonhnson wanted to start one at USC/UCLA. And then a high school in Boston reached out to ask if we’d start a chapter there. And it really just sort of blew up. Now we have a chapter in Manhattan and we’re looking to start a second outside LA. But, what I’m most proud of is that in summer 2019 we’ll be offering our first (but hopefully not last – keep those donations coming!) residential summer camp at UT Austin. We’re hosting 20 students who will live on campus and experience life as a college student – taking philosophy classes during the day and spending their evenings in residential activities. For me, as a woman of color, philosophy allowed me to develop the conceptual tools and rhetorical strategies I needed to understand and address some of my racialized experiences, and it gave me the understanding to approach those issues with empathy, rather than anger. I’ve been able to use those tools in my work to investigate some of the social phenomena we’re witnessing currently and it’s given me a clarity I otherwise lacked. I want that for our students, as well, especially for those students who are most likely to be victim to unjust social forces outside of their control.
What are you working on right now?
I have a few projects in the works, but right now what I am most excited about is my in-progress piece on political and social resistance movements and how those movements are undermined by the socially powerful. Though I don’t consider myself a political philosopher, I found myself thinking again and again about the negative responses to the Black Lives Matter movement and Colin Kaepernick’s NFL protest, and what these responses revealed. So now I’m writing a paper in which I analyze how resistance movements are systematically undermined by rhetorical strategies that serve to misdirect the conversations these movements hope to generate. Think, for instance, of attempts to make conversations on Black Lives Matter about black-on-black crime rather than its intended target, police brutality. I hope that by thinking about the ways political and social resistance movements are undermined, we can be empowered to plot out acts of resistance that anticipate, and ultimately avoid, such maneuvers.
What is your favorite holiday and why?
I absolutely love Halloween, and eagerly look forward to it every year. I’m always disappointed when Halloween falls on a day I’m not teaching, because then I don’t get to see my students dressed up. I think the worst thing about ‘adulting’ is that people feel like they have to leave childish flights of fancy behind. But Halloween allows everyone to express their inner-child, and I delight in that. It’s a holiday where we get to rediscover the joy of childhood and play. I confess that I’m always a little annoyed that philosophers insist on hosting Halloween parties where you’re encouraged to dress up as a philosophical concept (must you ruin everything, you nerds?!) but I am always so impressed by what people come up with (and I will admit to having once dressed as Frank Jackson’s ‘color-blind Mary’ – don’t judge me!). This year my husband and I are already planning a couple’s costume – we’re going as David Bowie and Freddie Mercury from their live performance of “Under Pressure”. Not to brag, but I think I’m going to look killer in Bowie’s lime green suit.
What’s your favorite quote?
Not a quote so much as a ‘phrase’ I encountered while reading work from Charles Mills – Ubuntu. Ubuntu is an African term meaning “I am because we are”. In fact, I had this tattooed on my arm by one of my former high school students who now owns his own tattoo parlor! Mills discusses Ubuntu as a way of thinking about the self, one which is understood relationally, in contrast to the Cartesian ‘sum’, which is individualistic. Mills ultimately suggests that one reason black students feel alienated by philosophy is because the Cartesian sum is treated as universal, though this feeling is not shared by many who come from non-white backgrounds. For myself, Ubuntu is an expression of the relation in which I stand to all the black people who came before me and made it possible for me to be here now. My grandparents – poor sharecroppers in the south born in the 1920s – could never have hoped to attain an education. But they instilled in my mother, who in turn instilled in me, a deep belief in the value and equalizing power of education. When I felt like giving up on my PhD, my uncle, who dropped out in the 8thgrade because he couldn’t withstand the terrors of Jim Crow, reminded me that I serve as a model for my cousins who are looking to education as an escape. And Charles Mills reminded me, when I first met him, that I’m here as a beacon for other black women who may doubt that there is a home for them in philosophy. I, of course, remember that I am only here because of people like Charles and Kristie Dotson, who have been incredible mentors and friends, and who have paved the way for more black women to make it into philosophy.
What’s your top tip or advice for APA members reading this?
This may not be useful or instructive for all APA members, but hopefully it will be for graduate students, and maybe as well for academics of color and women. What I’ve noticed about women and people of color, including myself, is that we struggle to ask for or admit when we need help. Now, the reason for this is obvious – so many of us already feel like imposters, we fear that asking for help may reveal that maybe we really don’t belong. But this attitude holds us back. The best thing I’ve learned to do is to just admit when I don’t know something and to ask for guidance. Ask for opportunities too, even if you think you are under qualified. There’s a sort of, well, derogatory statement – “give me the confidence of a white man”. This can be interpreted in an ugly spirit: give me unearned confidence. But I think it can be instead read in the following spirit: give me the courage to simply ask for opportunities and take up space. Don’t wait for someone to notice you and drop something in your lap. This is so hard for women and people of color, but I’ve come to realize that the worst thing that will happen if I ask is that I’ll be told no. But the worst thing that will happen if I don’t ask is that I’ll miss out on an opportunity, perhaps one I really would have been well-suited for.
This section of the APA Blog is designed to get to know our fellow philosophers a little better. We’re including profiles of APA members that spotlight what captures their interest not only inside the office, but also outside of it. We’d love for you to be a part of it, so please contact us via the interview nomination form here to nominate yourself or a friend.
Dr. Sabrina D. MisirHiralall is an editor at the Blog of the APA who currently teaches philosophy, religion, and education courses solely online for Montclair State University, Three Rivers Community College, and St. John’s University.
