

It felt reductive to me to be pushed to theorize and philosophize on my identity. If you’re a woman, person of color, or disabled person, you are expected to work in social or political philosophy. In academia, people often learn something about you-either your physical appearance or personal background-and want to place you into a category and leave you there. Why did you turn to personal writing, and what did the memoir as a genre offer you?Ĭhloé Cooper Jones: I wonder if you have experienced this yourself. You describe several people who pushed you to study social and political philosophy and how it relates to disability, and you rejected it and studied aesthetics and Ancient Greek philosophy for years. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.Ĭampbell Campbell: You worked in academia, studied philosophy for years, and even earned tenure as a professor. She is a Whiting Award winner and was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing. Back to Issue Forty-One A Conversation with Chloé Cooper JonesĬhloé Cooper Jones is a journalist, philosophy professor, and the author of Easy Beauty (Avid Reader Press, April 2022).
