Matthew Spencer Whitt

Matthew Spencer Whitt

Lecturing Fellow of Thompson Writing Program

External Address: 
Campus Box 90025, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0025
Links

Overview

Matt S. Whitt's research examines the formal and informal boundaries of democracy, especially the ways that democracies shape ideals of ‘good' citizenship by excluding, differentiating, or criminalizing ‘bad' citizens and ‘aliens’. His work contributes to debates on the ethics of immigration, the philosophy of punishment, and democratic theory. In one current project, he examines the testimonial injustices faced by pre-trial jail detainees when they speak out about the conditions of their incarceration, and the relevance of this for local democracy.

Representative publications include:

  • "Felon Disenfranchisement and Democratic Legitimacy." Social Theory & Practice. Forthcoming.
  • "Other People’s Problems: Student Distancing, Epistemic Responsibility, and Injustice." Studies in Philosophy & Education. 2016.
  • "Democracy’s Sovereign Enclosures: Territory and the All-Affected Principle." Constellations. 2014.
  • "Review of Joseph Carens, The Ethics of Immigration." Ethics & Global Politics. 2014.

More information about Matt's teaching and research can be found at http://mattswhitt.net

Education & Training

  • Ph.D., Vanderbilt University 2010

Whitt, MS. "Sovereignty, community, and the incarceration of immigrants." Death and Other Penalties: Philosophy in a Time of Mass Incarceration. April 1, 2015. 174-192.

Whitt, MS, and Medina, J. "Epistemic Activism and the Politics of Credibility: Testimonial Injustice in a North Carolina Jail." Making the Case: Feminist and Critical Race Theorists Investigate Case Studies. Trans. H Grasswick and N McHugh. (Chapter)

Whitt, MS. "Felon Disenfranchisement and Democratic Legitimacy." Social Theory and Practice 43.2 (2017): 283-311. Full Text

Whitt, MS. "Other People’s Problems: Student Distancing, Epistemic Responsibility, and Injustice." Studies in Philosophy and Education 35.5 (September 2016): 427-444. Full Text

Whitt, M. "Democracy's Sovereign Enclosures: Territory and the All-affected Principle." Constellations 21.4 (December 2014): 560-574. Full Text

Whitt, MS. "The Ethics of Immigration." Ethics & Global Politics 7.3 (January 2014): 137-141. Full Text

Whitt, MS. "The Problem of Poverty and the Limits of Freedom in Hegel’s Theory of the Ethical State." Political Theory 41.2 (April 2013): 257-284. Full Text