ALISON WYLIE
Department of Philosophy
University of Washington

M396 Savery Hall, Box 353350
Seattle, WA 98195
   (206) 543-5873
   aw26@u.washington.edu


RESEARCH
INTERESTS

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PUBLICATIONS
& PRESENTATIONS

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CONFERENCES
& WORKSHOPS

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COURSES



My areas of specialization are philosophy of the social and historical sciences, specifically archaeology, and feminist philosophy of science. I'm interested in how archaeologists establish knowledge claims about the cultural past, and in whether (or in what form) ideals of objectivity can be sustained given feminist arguments for recognizing the central role that contextual values play in the research process. In both cases, I argue, the answers lie in an analysis of evidential reasoning. To explain how evidential constraints operate in archaeology I have developed models of analogical inference, hypothesis testing, and strategies of triangulation and scaffolding that turn on the use of background knowledge. And to explore the epistemic role of standpoint-specific interests and contextual values in the sciences, I am currently engaged in a study of feminist research programs in the social sciences. For a more detailed description of these interests see Research Interests.
 

News and Current Projects


Biological Futures in a Globalized World:
A research network and a cluster of curriculum development projects hosted by the Simpson Center for the Humanities (University of Washington), in partnership with the Center for Biological Futures at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute (2011-2013). We initiated this project with a Research Consortium on biological futures that brought together UW Faculty Fellows and CBF Research Fellows.
        - for information on current events and projects see: http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/biofutures1011.html

Evidential Reasoning in Archaeology: Best Practices and Object Lessons: A case-based project on norms of evidential reasoning embodied in archaeological practice. This is a collaborative work in progress with Robert Chapman (Archaeology Department, University of Reading) inspired by the 2010 Leverhulme Workshop on Evidential Reasoning at Reading University.
        - Leverhulme program pdf

Hypatia: Journal of Feminist Philosophy: Linda Martín Alcoff (Hunter College), Ann Cudd (University of Kansas), and I are the journal co-editors, and Sharyn Clough (Oregon State University) is book review editor for Hypatia. The Hypatia editorial office is hosted by the Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington (2008-2013).
        - for Hypatia news and updates, submission guidelines, special issue calls for papers: Hypatia at UW
        - for
electronic contents, subscription information, and permissions: Hypatia at Wiley-Blackwell

Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage - iPinCH: A seven-year SSHRCC-funded Major Collaborative Research Initiative, hosted by Simon Fraser University, the goal of this project is to document and address intellectual property  issues in cultural heritage raised by emergent local and global interpretations of culture, rights, and knowledge. I am a co-investigator on this project, and co-chair, with Sonya Atalay (Indiana University) of the Research Ethics Working Group. 
        - iPinCH project website

Seneca Village Archaeological Project/National Science Foundation (New York, NY): consultant on research ethics for the field research and training project directed by Nan A. Rothschild (Barnard/Columbia) and Diana Wall (CUNY). This past summer Rothschild and Wall got permission to begin test excavation and convened a field school. An exciting long-in-the-works season! 
        - Seneca Village Project website

Science Studies Network: This is an interdisciplinary forum for colleagues at the University of Washington who share interests in science and technology studies, founded in the Fall of 2007. In its first two years we convened a biweekly colloquium, focusing on "Democratizing Science" in 2008-2009; the following year we sponsored a speaker series on "Representations in Science"; we are now working with Biological Futures project on a two-year program of colloquia, research consortium, and curriculum development in science, technology, and society studies (SISS).
        - for current SSNet news and events: SSNet website

Philosophy of Social Science Roundtable: Since its inception in 1998 I have co-organized this annual conference with Paul Roth (University of California - Santa Cruz) and James Bohman (St. Louis University), now joined by Mark Risjord (Emery University), and Steven Turner (University of South Florida). We met in Paris in March 2011 for the largest and most international Roundtable so far. For the current call for papers, program information, and links to the annual Roundtable Special Issue of Philosophy of the Social Sciences:
        - check the Roundtable website: Philosophy of Social Science Roundtable

Recent Publications

Books, Journal Special Issues, Reports
  • Feminist Legacies/Feminist Futures,” Hypatia 25th Anniversary Special Issue, co-edited with Lori Gruen, Hypatia, 25.4 (2010).
  • A More Social Epistemology: Decision Vectors, Epistemic Fairness, and Consensus in Solomon’s Social Empiricism, special issue of Perspectives on Science 16.3 (2008). Project Muse 
  • Value-Free Science? Ideals and Illusions co-edited with Harold Kincaid and John Dupre, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007. OUP website 
  • Doing Archaeology as a Feminist, co-edited with Margaret W. Conkey, special issue of the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, Volume 14.3 (2007). SpringerLink 
  • Women, Work and the Academy: Strategies for Responding to ‘Post-Civil Rights Era’ Gender Discrimination, co-authored with Janet R. Jakobsen and Gisela Fosado, New Feminist Solutions, Barnard Center for Research on Women, 2007. Conference website / Report PDF
  • When Difference Makes a Difference: Epistemic Diversity and Dissent: special issue of Episteme: Journal of Social Epistemology 3.1-2 (2006). Episteme website 
  • Thinking From Things: Essays in the Philosophy of Archaeology, University of California Press, Berkeley CA, 2002. UCPress website

Selected Articles and Chapters
  • “Critical Distance: Stabilizing Evidential Claims in Archaeology”: to appear in Evidence, Inference and Enquiry, edited by Philip Dawid, William Twining, and Mimi Vasilaki, British Academy Publications (forthcoming).
  • "Standpoint (still) Matters: Research on Women, Work, and the Academy,” in Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science: Power in Knowledge, edited by Heidi Grasswick, Springer, 2011, pp. 157-179.
  • “The Appropriation of Archaeological Finds,” co-authored with George Nicholas, in The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation edited by James O. Young and Conrad G. Brunk, Blackwell, 2011, pp. 11-54.
  • Feminist Perspectives on Science”: co-authored with Elizabeth Potter and Wenda Bauchspies, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2010.  Available online: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminist-science/
  •  Hypatia: A Journal of Her Own,” American Philosophical Association Newsletter, Feminism and Philosophy 9.2 (Fall 2010): 20-24.
  • “Archaeological Facts in Transit: The ‘Eminent Mounds’ of Central North America”, in How Well do ‘Facts’ Travel?: The Dissemination of Reliable Knowledge, edited by Peter Howlett and Mary S. Morgan, Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp. 301-322.
  • "Social Constructionist Arguments in Harding's Science and Social Inequality,” Hypatia 23.4 (2008): 201-211.
  • “What’s Feminist about Gender Archaeology?” Que(e)rying Archaeology: Proceedings of the 36th Annual Chacmool Conference, University of Calgary Archaeology Association, 2009, pp. 282-289.
  • “Agnotology in/of Archaeology,” Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance, edited by Robert N. Proctor and Londa Schiebinger; Stanford University Press, 2008, pp. 183-205.
  • “The Feminism Question in Science: What Does it Mean to ‘Do Social Science as a Feminist’?”, Handbook of Feminist Research, edited by Sharlene Hesse-Biber, Sage, 2007, pp. 567-578.
  • “Philosophy in/of Archaeology,” in The Philosophy of Anthropology and Sociology, edited by Stephen Turner and Mark Risjord; volume 14, Handbook of the Philosophy of Science, Elsevier Science, 2007, pp. 517-549. 
  • “Socially Naturalized Norms of Epistemic Rationality: Aggregation and Deliberation,” The Southern Journal of Philosophy 44 Supplement (2006): 43-48.
  • "The Promise and Perils of an Ethic of Stewardship," Beyond Ethics: Anthropological Moralities on the Boundaries of the Public and the Professional, edited by Lynn Meskell and Peter Pells, Berg Press, London, 2005, pp. 47-68.
  • “Why Standpoint Matters,” in Science and Other Cultures: Issues in Philosophies of Science and Technology, edited by Robert Figueroa and Sandra Harding, Routledge, New York, 2003, pp. 26-48.