Noëlle McAfee is a philosopher specializing in democratic theory and practice, transitional justice, feminist philosophy, contemporary European thought, and American pragmatism. She is the principle investigator for a project with the Kettering Foundation on media and democracy and the associate editor of the Kettering Review, a journal of political thought. As a philosopher committed to making the humanities more engaged with public life, McAfee works widely with communities of scholars, deliberative practitioners, new media leaders, and journalists throughout the world.
Her latest book, Democracy and the Political Unconscious (Columbia University Press, 2008), charts a course for democratic practice in a world sorely needing transformation. It explores the potential of deliberative dialogue and other public testimonies to work through the traumas of oppression, terror, and brutality that keep political communities from developing spaces and practices through which all can help shape their common world. Her other writings include Habermas, Kristeva, and Citizenship (Cornell University Press), Julia Kristeva (Routledge), and Standing with the Public: the Humanities and Democratic Practice (Kettering Foundation Press).
Noëlle McAfee's CV
Selected Publications
Books
3. Democracy and the Political Unconscious, Columbia University Press, March 2008.
2. Julia Kristeva, Routledge, 2003.
2a. Persian translation with Nashr-e-Markaz, 2006.
2b. Korean translation with Reading Books, 2007.
1. Habermas, Kristeva, and Citizenship, Cornell University Press, 2000.
Edited Books and Journal Issues
2. Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Volume 22, Number 4, Special Issue on Feminist Engagements in Democratic Theory, with R. Claire Snyder, Fall 2007.
1. Standing With the Public: The Humanities and Democratic Practice, edited with James Veninga, Kettering Foundation Press, 1997.
Book Chapters and Invited Articles
16. “Feminism and the Political: A Reply to Allen, Bauer, Pratt, and Zerilli,” Symposia on Gender, Race and Philosophy Vol. 3, No. 3 https://wikis.mit.edu/confluence/display/SGRP/Fall+2007+Symposium+%28McAfee%29
15. “The Makings of a Public and the Role of the Academy” in Agent of Democracy, Kettering Foundation Press, 2008.
14. “Democratic Theory” with R. Claire Snyder in Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Vol. 22, Number 4, Fall 2007, pp. vii-x.
13. “Background Paper: The Political Anthropology of Civil Practices,” with Denis Gilbert, in Collective Decision Making Around the World: Essays on Historical Deliberative Practices, Ileana Marin, ed. Kettering Foundation Press, 2006.
12. “The Problem of Moral Disagreement and the Necessity of Democratic Politics” in Connections, Summer 2006.
11. “The Myth of Democracy and the Limits of Deliberation” in Kettering Review, Summer 2006.
10. “Bearing Witness in the Polis: Arendt, Kristeva, and the Space of Appearance” in Revolt, Affectivity, Collectivity: The Unstable Boundaries of Kristeva’s Polis, Tina Chanter and Ewa Ziarek, eds., State University of New York Press, 2005.
9. “What makes pubcasting ‘public’ is engagement” with Pat Aufderheide in Current, September 19, 2005, pp. B1, B12, B16.
8. “…afterthoughts” in Kettering Review, Vol. 22, No.1, Spring 2004, pp. 65-68.
7. “Getting the Public’s Intelligence” an interview by David Brown in Higher Education Exchange, 2004, pp. 44-54.
6. “Politics and the Public Sphere” in Kettering Review, Spring 1998, pp. 13-22.
5. “Ways of Knowing: The Humanities and the Public Sphere” in Standing With the Public: The Humanities and Democratic Practice, Kettering Foundation Press, 1997, pp. 29-50.
4. “A Deliberate Nation” in Kettering Review, Summer 1994, pp. 8-16.
3. “In a Public Voice” in Kettering Review, Summer 1994, pp. 56-66.
2. “Abject Strangers: Towards an Ethics of Respect” in Ethics, Politics, and Difference in Julia Kristeva's Writings, Kelly Oliver, ed. New York, Routledge, 1993, pp. 116-134.
1. “Relationship and Power: An Interview with Ernesto Cortes, Jr.” in Kettering Review, Summer 1993, pp. 26-36.
Refereed Journal Articles
4. “Two Feminisms” in Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 2005, Vol. 19(2):140-149.
4a. Chosen to be a subject of the Fall 2007 Symposium on Gender, Race, and Philosophy edited by Robert Gooding-Williams, Sally Haslanger, Ishani Maitra, and Ronald Sundstrom.
3. “Three Models of Democratic Deliberation” in Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Special Issue on Pragmatism and Deliberative Democracy, 2004, Vol. 18(1): 44-59.
3a. Chinese translation in Theory of Deliberative Democracy: A Reader, School of International Studies, Renmin University of China, 2005.
3b. Reprinted in Public Thought in Foreign Policy, Kettering Foundation, 2005.
2. “Public Knowledge” in Philosophy and Social Criticism, 2004, Vol. 30(2): 139-157.
1. “Resisting Essence: Julia Kristeva’s Process Philosophy” in Philosophy Today, Vol. 26 of Selected Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Supplement 2000: 77-83.
