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Photograph of Amy Oliver

Amy Oliver Associate Professor Emerita Philosophy and Religion

Additional Positions at AU
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion
Degrees
PhD, MA, University of Massachusetts; BA, Purdue University

Languages Spoken
Spanish, Portuguese, Italian
Bio
Professor Oliver's teaching and research on Latin America explore philosophical topics such as marginality, feminism, nepantlismo, and transfronterismo. She works on the Hispanic essay of ideas and Latin American narrative. She has lived in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Spain, and traveled widely in Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States, and Europe. She serves on the International Editorial Boards of Cuadernos Americanos and the Journal of Mexican Philosophy, has been a member of several committees of the American Philosophical Association, and chaired the APA's Committee on Hispanics. Professor Oliver has been President of the Society for Iberian and Latin American Thought, Director of American University's Women's and Gender Studies Program, and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion. Her latest book is Feminist Philosophy in Latin America and Spain. Since 1998, she has been a section editor for Latin American thought of various encyclopedias of philosophy published by Routledge. Professor Oliver teaches courses in the departments of Philosophy & Religion and World Languages & Cultures.

Her recent scholarship includes:

“Prolegomena to a Life Lived in Two Worlds,” JOURNAL OF WORLD PHILOSOPHIES (Vol. 8, No. 1, 2023)

“Valuing Mexican Philosophy: Suspect Endeavor or Life-Affirming Strategy?” JOURNAL OF MEXICAN PHILOSOPHY, Volume 1, Number 1 (2022)

“Formulating Metaphysical Contexts in Mexican and Spanish Philosophy: Leopoldo Zea and Miguel de Unamuno,” JOURNAL OF WORLD PHILOSOPHIES (Vol. 7, No. 2, 2022)

“Las ideas actúan: la filosofía feminista de Carlos Vaz Ferreira,” ANEP (Uruguayan National Association for Public Education), Keynote address to open two-week commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Carlos Vaz Ferreira, May 10, 2022

“The Disintegration of Community: On the Social and Political Philosophy of Jorge Portilla,” Radical Philosophy Association, November 11, 2021

“Ortega y Gasset, Zea, and the History of Mexican Philosophy,” DePaul University, October 14, 2020

“Roots of Carlos Vaz Ferreira’s Philosophy,” GENEALOGY (Special Issue: New Directions in Latinx/Latin American Philosophy, 3, 57, November 2019)
See Also
Department of Philosophy and Religion
Prominent Hispanics
World Languages & Cultures
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Partnerships & Affiliations

  • Society for Iberian and Latin American Thought (SILAT)
    Past-President

  • Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
    Latin American Subject Editor