Dr. Valerie E. Broin
Education:
Ph.D. University of Colorado, 1988
Dissertation: "The Act of Understanding and the Possibility of a Critical Hermeneutics" focusing on Heidegger, Gadamer, and Ricoeur
Recent Publications:
"Standing in the Way of Truth: Understanding Narratives of Trauma," forthcoming in Zeitschrift fur Philosophische Praxis, 2000
"Negotiating Trauma: Domestic Violence, Narrative, and Self Construction," California State University, Stanislaus Journal of Research, Fall, 1998, Volume 3, Number 1.
"Separatism: A Political Strategy for Building Alliances," Journal of Social Philosophy, 25th Anniversary Issue, 1994.
"Integrating Critical Analysis: Philosophy with a Multicultural and Gender Focus," Teaching Philosophy, 16:4, December 1993.
Recent Presentations:
"Negotiating Fragmentation: Healing Sexual Violence," for the American Society for Philosophy, Counseling and Psychotherapy, at the APA, Berkeley, California, April 2, 1999.
"Talking Oneself into Being: Domestic Violence, Autobiography, and Self Construction," The Second International Congress on Philosophical Practice, Leusden, The Netherlands, August 28, 1996.
"Controversies in Postmodernity and Feminist Politics," Invited Speaker for the Women's Center and Philosophy Club at the University of Seattle, Washington, April 18, 1995.
A Recent Paper:
Standing in the Way of Truth: Understanding Narratives of Domestic Violence
Work in Progress
Infinite Distances, a novel set in St. Augustine, Florida
Writing Oneself Into Being: Trauma, Self-Construction and Autobiographical Expression
This work integrates my research in philosophies of self, autobiographical constructions of self in literature and psychotherapy, and postmodern thought. The question this book addresses is what it means to develop "healthy selfhood" after the disintegrating experiences of trauma.
It specifically examines how the trauma that females experience, such as domestic violence, incest, and rape is socially constructed, how it affects the self-understanding of survivors, and how healthy selfhood can be reconceptualized to better address the issues of survivors.
Frequently Taught Courses
Introduction to Philosophy (PHIL 1010) -- either with a focus on selfhood or on social/political philosophy (Plato, Descartes, Hume, Nietzsche, Sartre, Friere, Marx, Freud)
Classics of Western Philosophy -- often a course on 19th and 20th century Existentialism (Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Camus, Sartre, Beauvoir)
Theory of Knowledge (PHIL 3300) -- both historical and introducing recent continental discussions concerning epistemology (Descartes, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Gadamer, Foucault)
Twentieth Century Philosophy (PHIL 4260)
Philosophy of Art (PHIL 4500) -- Hume, Kant, Tolstoy, Danto, Heidegger, Foucault, Benjamin, Marcuse, Minh-ha, Mudimbe, Hirsch, Gadamer, Ricoeur, etc.
Philosophy and Feminism (PHIL 4950) -- Recent feminist theory, mostly focusing on U.S. feminists. Last semester I taught this with an eye towards autobiographical theory and constructions of gender through autobiography.
Society and Gender -- generally a course showing how gender (along with race and class) is implicated throughout our cultural concerns of education, socialization, media, law, language, the family, the workforce, intimate relations, and violence.
Parting words: Lighten up! (I believe that was the message in Jitterbug Perfume -- Tom Robbins -- though it could have Heideggerian overtones.) Basically what excites me is shining light on the things we normally take for granted, the things that direct our way of seeing the world so completely that we no longer notice how directed our vision is. What I like to let loose, in philosophy or in creative writing, are expanding options that let us create our lives more imaginatively and playfully.
"But the point is to live" (Camus).