Jessica Castellani is a philosophy adjunct professor who will be teaching Ethics at Owen’s Community College this fall. She gained her Master of Arts degree from the University of Toledo, where she also taught for two years. She is also an editor for the American Philosophical Association, particularly for this blog.
Link to Website: https://jlcastel172pjesv.blog/
What excites you about philosophy?
What excites me most about philosophy is that it can be transformative. Many of the belief systems we hold today are philosophical concepts that have been passed down through generations. These philosophers had a real-life impact on how people not only consciously thought of things but also unknowingly as philosophy, science, and literature went hand in hand. This is also what troubles me about philosophy at times. This idea that there are so many different ways ‘the world’ or ‘society’ could be but through power certain theories and ideologies come to the forefront.
What is your favorite thing that you’ve written?
My favorite thing I’ve ever written was for a political philosophy course I took in my graduate program. I wrote a case study of Afrofuturism focusing on Detroit techno music. In the paper I explored Detroit Techno by way of Christoph Schaub’s article “Beyond the Hood? Detroit Techno, Underground Resistance, and African American Metropolitan Identity Politics” because I found that his consideration of the lyrics, and interviews of UR to be extensive, and that he truly grasps the message of Detroit Techno as it relates to their identity politics. I come to the conclusion in a boarder aspect that futuristic and (counter) factual speculative thinking is a pedagogical way to offer a counter narrative to the already existing and problematic exclusive narrative we face in philosophy today. Not only does Afrofuturism offer a counter narrative, but it also offers hope by questioning the norms that exists, taking away their power and reallocating it more equally to a new/a different world view that is more inclusive. I find it functions as a working model for thinking of ideologies, that critical theory attempts to disrupt the cycle by changing the normative “this is just how things are, have been, always will be” mentality.
What three things are on your bucket list that you’ve not yet accomplished?
Go to Brazil, my dad is from Sao Paulo. Eat at a Michelin Star Restaurant. I’ve worked in the service industry for over a decade, soon it shall be my turn. Visit a Buddhist temple outside of the United States.
What is your favorite film of all time? (Or top 3). Why? To whom would you recommend them?
Wrist Cutters; the love story is my all-time favorite movie. It sounds depressing, but there are small joys and miracles throughout the movie that make it great. My favorite part is that there is a character named Eugene, a Russian musician, who was modeled after the real-life artist Eugene Hutz from the band Gogol Bordello. Gogol Bordello produced most of the soundtrack, and in the movie they say that they are listening to a tape of Eugene’s band. Also, Tom Waits plays a cool, helpful, angel-like character.
Secondly, The Princess Bride has been a favorite of mine for most of my life. I later learned Goldman used an extremely interesting framing device when he wrote the book. He claimed it was simply an abridged or “good parts version” of a fictional, centuries-old political satire written by an author named S. Morgenstern. In reality, S. Morgenstern and the original, lengthy book do not exist—they are entirely Goldman’s brilliant invention. This finally made sense to me why the movie started out with the grandfather reading the story to the sick grandson and seemed to skip over parts.
Lastly, Monty Python and the Holy Grail will never not be funny to me. I would recommend these to anyone who likes campy comedy and cult classics.
What would your childhood self say if someone told you that you would grow up to be a philosopher?
Well, I’m sure they would have to explain it to me. Then I would probably say something like:
“I didn’t know that could be a job! Well good, because I’ve got lots of question!”
When did you last sing to yourself, or to someone else?
I sing along to music almost every day. If I’m any good? I couldn’t tell you. I just like to sing, I also like to dance, and improv, and all of the very goofy things. But, I also went to an arts high school so any embarrassment has passed. Unfortunately I played orchestral percussion there, which I loved, but since I no longer have access to a marimba, and never learned keyboard without mallets, I cannot play and sing along.
What are your goals and aspirations outside work?
I almost went to answer this question with another work-related goal, which would be starting my own podcast. The reason I don’t see that as work is that the real goal is to create a community of like-minded people, which just sounds like fun to me. I would like to run a marathon; I did my first 5K last year. I would also like to go through Jukai which is a formal initiation ceremony in Zen Buddhism where practitioners publicly take refuge in the Three Treasures and commit to living by the Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts. Because this marks a deepened personal commitment to Buddhist practice I have taken my time with it. I tend to be the kind of person to add too many tasks to my to-do list and then feel guilty about them, and that is not something that I wanted to happen with this.
If you could have a one-hour conversation with any philosopher or historical figure from any time, who would you pick and what topic would you choose?
I would love to have a one-hour conversation with either Martin Heidegger or Jacques Derrida. Heidegger being that I have studied his work closer than any other philosopher and I have always had two questions. To what extent was he getting his ideas from Eastern thought and to what extent was he involved with the National Socialist party? There is a book of essays complied by James W. Heisig and John C. Maraldo called Rude Awakenings: Zen, the Kyoto School, & the Question of Nationalism that discusses in detail the relationship between early continental philosophy and Eastern thought, as well as the question of Nationalism, that I found extremely interesting. Also to sit around and talk about nothing all day. As for Derrida, he just seems like a cool guy to hang out with and I just want to understand how his brain works.
What would you like your last meal to be?
Short rib Risotto
What technology do you wish the human race could discover/create/invent right now?
I feel like in a past life not only could I read minds but I could do a mind-meld and transfer full ideas, memories, and experiences into another person’s mind, as well as be able to basically search the internet with my mind. I have just wanted this technology to exist so badly, I feel I have to have experienced this before. I am pretty good at reading minds already though. I am aware Neuralink exists, but I am skeptical.
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.
Smrutipriya Pattnaik
Smrutipriya Pattnaik is the Teaching Beat Editor and Series Editor for the Syllabus Showcase Series at the APA Blog. She is an adjunct assistant professor at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Florida and holds a PhD in philosophy from the Indian Institute of Technology Indore. Her research focuses on utopian imagination and political thought in the context of modern crises. She is currently working on her first book, Politics, Utopia, and Social Imagination.
