Edward O'Byrn

Curriculum Vitae
Mailing Address: The Pennsylvania State University, Philosophy Department
228 Sparks Building
University Park, PA
Email: Eeo122@psu.edu 16802

EDUCATION

Doctoral Candidate (ABD), Philosophy, The Pennsylvania State University 2013 - Present
Dissertation: Black American Existentialism: From Liberation to
Abolition (In Progress)
Areas of Specialization: 20th Century European Philosophy, African-
American and Africana Philosophy, Existentialism, Ethics
Areas of Competence: Critical Philosophy of Race, Social Political
Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy

Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy, Concordia College (Moorhead, MN) 2008-2012

DISSERTATION ABSTRACT

Committee: Kathryn Sophia Belle (Director),

Robert Bernasconi, Sarah Clark Miller, Jennifer Boittin

Black Americans who lived through chattel slavery, the abolition of slavery, and the horrors
of lynching presented a myriad of ways to think about freedom, equality, alienation, and
empowerment. Prolific Black writers like Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells-Barnett exposed
contradictions in American society’s views on freedom and equality. Their works underscore the
vibrant philosophical objections Black Americans raised with regard to the dominant white society’s
views on freedom, equality, oppression, and the alienation of persons through slavery and racism.
My dissertation project is motived by the way these thinkers raised practical and theoretical
challenges against, and fundamentally changed, the dominant Western views of freedom and
equality. Three questions motivate this project: How did those enslaved during American chattel
slavery, and their descendants, approach Western concepts like freedom and agency? Were their
approaches to freedom fundamentally different from the pro-slavery society? And what lessons can
we learn about empowerment from their struggles against oppression? My dissertation aims to
answer these questions by utilizing the work of Angela Davis and her existential reading of Frederick
Douglass. Further, I demonstrate how both Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells Barnett
understand freedom as the process of empowering individuals and communities against the
alienations of slavery and its aftermath. Each of these figures outlines the horrors of slave life, the
anguish of living under the constant threat of racialized violence, and the importance of resisting
these realities. By outlining hypocrisy, inconsistency, and prejudice, these figures both demonstrate
how dominant concepts can be altered and utilized in favor of oppressed populations.

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 FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS, AND RECOGNITIONS

The Pennsylvania State University:

2018-2019 Mellon Dissertation Completion Fellowship

2018 Honorable Mention Ford Foundation Dissertation Completion Fellowship
2017 Mentoring Award (Nomination)
2016-2017 Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award
2016 Denise Haunani Solomon Teaching Award (Nomination)
2015-2016 Philosophy Department Service Award
2013-2017 Bunton-Waller Graduate Award

PUBLICATIONS

Book Chapters:

2018 Gines, Kathryn T., O’Byrn, Edward, Ranjbar, A. Marie, Ewara, Eyo, Paris,
William. “Teaching and Learning Philosophical “Special” Topics: Black
Feminism and Intersectionality” Black women's liberatory pedagogies:
Resistance, transformation, and healing within and beyond the academy.

LECTURES & PRESENTATIONS

Invited Speaker:

2017 “Towards an Anti-Racist Praxis” Morgan State University

2016 “Turning Arrogance to Coalition: Black Lives Matter” Alvernia University

Conference Presentations:

2017 “Angela Davis’ Lecture on Liberation: An Introduction to Black Existentialism”

Collegium of Black Women Philosophy Session, Society for Phenomenology and
Existential Philosophy, Memphis TN
2016 “Existentialism is a Pedagogy: An Existential Approach to Teaching Agency”
North American Sartre Society, Wilmington, NC
2016 “Beyond Idealism and Realism: The Challenge of Simone de Beauvoir”
International Simone de Beauvoir Society, Superior, WI
2015 “Huey Newton’s Revolutionary Intercommunalism”
Society for Utopian Studies Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA
2011 “Never Let Me Go Baudrillard – Cloning and Literature”
Society for Utopian Studies Annual Conference, State College, PA

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 TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Graduate Instructor, The Pennsylvania State University:

Summer 2018 Ethical Leadership – PHIL 119

Summer 2018 Critical Thinking – PHIL 10
Spring 2018 Existentialism and European Philosophy – PHIL 102
Fall 2017 Ethical Leadership – PHIL 119
Fall 2016 Existentialism and European Philosophy – PHIL 102 Honors (2 Sections)
Spring 2016 Philosophy of Love and Sex – PHIL 014
Fall 2015 Ethical Leadership – PHIL 119 (2 Sections)
Spring 2015 Persons, Moral Values, and the Good Life – PHIL 003

Teaching Assistant, The Pennsylvania State University:

Fall 2014 Introduction to Philosophy of Law – Paul Taylor – PHIL 104 (2 Sections)
Spring 2014 Persons, Moral Values, and the Good Life – Kathryn Sophia Belle – PHIL 003

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

2017 Research Assistant for Kathryn Sophia Belle – Simone de Beauvoir Research
2014 Research Assistant for Kathryn Sophia Belle – Simone de Beauvoir Research

ACADEMIC SERVICE WORK

The Pennsylvania State University:

2018 Graduate Student Representative, Carnegie-Mellon Postdoc Search Committee

2016–2017 President, Philosophy Grad Student Organization
2015–2016 Vice President, Philosophy Grad Student Organization
2014 Committee Organizer Penn State Graduate Student Conference

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP

2017 Member, Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy

2016 Member, North American Sartre Society
2016 Member, International Simone de Beauvoir Society
2011–2016 Member, Society for Utopian Studies

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 PHD REQUIREMENTS

2016 Passed Dissertation Proposal Defense

2015 Passed Doctoral Comprehensive Exams
2015 Passed Logic Competency Exam
2014 Passed Departmental Candidacy Exam
2014 Passed Departmental Translation Exam (French)

GRADUATE COURSEWORK

Summer 2016 Africana Philosophy – Professor Kathryn Sophia Belle

Content: (Mills, Gordon, Appiah, Oyewumi)

Fall 2015 19th Century Independent Study – Professor Emily Grosholz

Content: (Dostoyevsky, Solovyov, Kierkegaard, Chestov)
Ethics Violence Seminar – Professor Sarah Clark Miller
Content: (Arendt, Zizek, Fanon, Alexander)

Summer 2015 Black Feminism and Intersectionality – Professor Kathyrn Sophia Belle
Content: (Crenshaw, Collins, Davis, Spivak, Guy-Sheftall)

Spring 2015 Ancient Philosophy – Professor Mark Sentesy

Content: (Plato, Aristotle)
Social Political Philosophy – Professor Paul Taylor
Content: (Davis, Medina, Sheth)
Graduate Logic Seminar – Professor Mark Fisher
Content: (Propositional Logic, Predicate Logic)
Professionalization: Research, Job Market, and Conferences

Fall 2014 African American Philosophy – Professor Paul Taylor

Content: (Gordon, Douglass, Du Bois, Baker, Davis)
Modern Philosophy Seminar – Professor Emily Grosholz
Content: (Descartes, Hume, Locke, Spinoza, Leibniz)
th
20 Century Philosophy Seminar – Professor Leonard Lawlor
Content: (Deleuze, Merleau-Ponty, Heidegger, Husserl)
Professionalization: Teaching Practicum

Summer 2014 French Translation Seminar

Content: (Levinas Translations)

Spring 2014 French Feminist Philosophy – Professor Shannon Sullivan

Content: (Kristeva, Butler, Irigaray, Beauvoir)
American Philosophy Seminar – Professor Vincent Colapietro
Content: (Peirce, James, Dewey, Locke, Emerson)
European Philosophy– Professor Kathryn Sophia Belle
Content: (Simone de Beauvoir)

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Fall 2013 Contemporary Philosophy – Professor Sarah Clark Miller
Content: (Global Ethics, Cosmopolitanism, Care Ethics)
European Philosophy Seminar – Professor Leonard Lawlor
Content: (Jacques Derrida)
Philosophy of Race – Professor Robert Bernasconi
Content: (Historical and Contemporary Race Theory)
Professionalization in Academia Seminar

REFERENCES

Kathryn Sophia Belle, Ph.D (Dissertation Director)

(Formerly Kathryn T. Gines)
Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy
The Pennsylvania State University
Founding Director of the Collegium of Black Women Philosophers
(Email: kathrynbelle@psu.edu)

Robert Bernasconi, Ph.D

Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Philosophy and African American Studies
The Pennsylvania State University
(Email: rlb43@psu.edu)

Sarah Clark Miller, Ph.D

Associate Professor of Philosophy, Bioethics, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
The Pennsylvania State University
(Email: scm23@psu.edu )

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