Dr. Rachel McKinnon
The only way to enter Dr. Rachel McKinnon’s office is through a door off of the porch. The Philosophy Department’s offices are housed in an old colonial home and the one she inhibits happened to be the kitchen. The building is steeped in a rich history that she isn’t afraid of sharing. “There are no doors to the inside,” she declares, “ because they didn’t want to have to see the help.” She says this deliberately, demanding your acknowledgment. She isn’t afraid of making anyone uncomfortable, in fact, she believes we must remain unsutured to move forward as a community. I learned this in my Honors Business and Consumer Ethics class that she has been teaching this fall. Every mention of integration and diversity earns a stark silence that is broken the moment she calls for discussion. Opinions fly left and right, and the only consensus is that there is no consensus-these are real issues, and her research reflects the urgency of such.
The Beginning
Dr. McKinnon is no stranger to changing majors. She was first introduced to Philosophy in an intro class her first year in university (University of Victoria). She proudly jokes that she never showed up and earned a respectable C+. She couldn’t understand the professor and hated the course, but it didn’t matter-she was majoring in Kinesiology. That, however, didn’t seem to fit the bill either, and she switched to a chemistry track and then took a work term. When she returned to university, she decided to go into Philosophy. Reflecting back now, she has no clue why she decided on the subject, but she has never looked back. She began excited and unskilled, and she proclaims that she was a horrible writer in the beginning. Many find this hard to believe as she currently has a book published under her name and another on the way.
The Norms of Assertion
She began her PHD with a focus on decision making. This too changed, however, when she had a job candidate come in one afternoon and give a talk on the Norms of Assertion. His view was that in order to say something properly you need to know it. She sat in the audience silently disagreeing but knew she would not remain silent for long. Her research now focuses on trying to work out our everyday conversations- what is going on when we talk to each other. The work she does focuses specifically on how that goes wrong, like when we don’t believe anonymous speakers who might be anonymous for important reasons. She ask questions like “should we believe our friends more than a stranger?” or “can we know that something is beautiful if we have never seen it before simply because an expert told us?” She is particularly interested in why we do not believe certain people when they tell us things. For example we are less likely to believe women and people of color.
Feminism, Feminist Philosophy, and Gender and Queer Identities
In the last year of her PHD her research took an intriguing turn. She found herself immersed in a growing field of philosophy on Feminism, and Gender and Queer Identities. Some of her current work deals with problems regarding Allies and Ally Culture, and how these problems relate to gaslighting and epistemic injustice. In addition, she does work on issues arising from stereotype threat and attributional ambiguity for trans-identified women. In our interview, she conveyed with me how difficult it was to not let this branch of research take over. People desperately want quality work on gender issues, but her true passion is still for the Norms of Assertion. While she does not currently engage undergraduates in her research, it is not out of the question. Her teaching often informs her research, and her research informs her teaching. If a student solves a problem she has been agonizing over, she does not hesitate to thank them for it in her publications.
In the Classroom
Her favorite classes to teach are of course on the Norms of Assertion, however, she also admits to enjoying Honors Business and Consumer Ethics and a third year Philosophy of Language course she taught last year. For next year she is proposing a class on race and racism. She thinks the issues are very important and that the work she does on feminism and gender (and the way that she does them in terms of intersectionality), makes race a key player. There currently is not a course on this subject here, and every time she has taught on it in Charleston interesting things happen. Some community members react negatively, while others praise her for it. It seems as if she feels an obligation to teach on these issues because of the white privilege she feels she has. One consequence of this privilege, she argues, is that she gets punished less for teaching these topics then her friends of color. It is this impetus that drives her to pursue what many consider controversial topics. If you have privilege, she insists, you must use it.
For more information on Dr. Rachel McKinnon check out her website, twitter, or one of her Honors courses!
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