I’m a philosopher from Nova Scotia, Canada, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. I work in feminist bioethics, with a focus on the ethics of eating. My research engages with multiple philosophical traditions, such as phenomenology, social epistemology, and philosophy of science, as well as interdisciplinary fields including Disability Studies, Fat Studies, and Food Studies.
You can learn more about me and my work in this recent interview at the Blog of the American Philosophical Association.
In 2020, I joined the Philosophy Department at Michigan State University as Assistant Professor. MSU occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg – Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples. In particular, the University resides on Land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw.
I am the North American Coordinator for Culinary Mind: Center for Philosophy of Food. We organize online and in-person events connecting people working on food and eating around the world—you can learn more about our events and join our mailing list at our website.
As of fall 2023, I am currently unavailable to work with new graduate students. If you are interested in working with me at MSU in future years, please get in touch.
Education
- Ph.D (with distinction), Philosophy, Georgetown University (2019)
- M.A., Philosophy, University of Alberta (2012)
- B.A.H., Philosophy and Contemporary Studies, University of King’s College and Dalhousie University (2009)
For more information about my research, teaching, and contact information use the tabs at the top of the page.
Some Goings On
Some recent and upcoming presentations:
- “The Phenomenology of Dietary Restraint,” Food and Affective States: Philosophy and Beyond, Geneva, Switzerland, September 2024.
- “The Interpersonal Ethics of Consumption,” Roundtable on Topics in Philosophy of Food: Consumption, XXV World Congress of Philosophy, Rome, August 2024.
- “Weight-loss Drugs and the Interpersonal Ethics of Eating,” AFHVS-ASFS Conference Right to Food-Food as Commons, Syracuse, NY, June 2024.
- “Turning Down Mum’s Cooking: The Ethics of Dietary Restriction Within Families,” Food, Family, and Justice, Rome (and virtual), June 2024.
Other things:
- Check out the excellent programming at Culinary Mind: Center for the Philosophy of Food, including the annual virtual speaker series I help organize.
- Check out my recent co-authored (and Open Access!) essay with Laura Guidry-Grimes in the Hastings Center Report: “Smuggled Donuts and Forbidden Fried Chicken: Addressing Tensions around Family and Food Restrictions in Hospitals.”
