"Having tea at the Queen of Tarts in Dublin, Ireland"
I am Associate Professor of Philosophy here at Elon, although I also often teach in Women's/Gender Studies and in General Studies. I'm also currently serving as chair of the department. My main research area is feminist theory, with particular interest in philosophy of the body. This means that I tend to explore ways in which the fact of embodiment - that humans are not, in fact, "brains in a vat," but are corporeal, material entities - informs and shapes our experience, our knowledge, and even our ethics and politics. My first book, Rethinking Rape, sought to reconceptualize the phenomenon of sexual violence by placing embodiment at its center. Since then, I've co-edited two anthologies (Continental Feminism Reader and Critical Evaluations in Cultural Theory: de Beauvoir, Kristeva, Cixous, and Irigaray), both of which have deepened my interest in continental feminist thought. I am currently putting the final touches on a full-length work that will constitute a critique of the feminist notion of objectification - a notion that shows up everywhere in feminist theory, but that is rarely explored explicitly and in depth. My teaching is centered on making philosophical skills and concepts concrete and applicable to students' lives. That means classes that have lots of discussion, some interesting activities, and relatively little lecturing. For me, both philosophy and feminism demand to be lived in order to be truly understood. Below I've listed two of my favorite assignments, one from my Philosophy of the Body class, and one from my Critical Thinking class, both of which demonstrate my interest in practicing (not just discussing) philosophy. Teaching is central to my identity as a philosopher; I consider it my great privilege to spend much of my time exploring some of the most important questions of all with students and colleagues. In terms of my personal life, my husband Neil Swenson and I live in Greensboro with our two small kids, Anne Joy (born in 2003) and Sean (born in 2005). We are all Red Sox fans. In addition, I tend to get obsessed with anything to do with Ireland, particularly Irish music. Grading, prepping classes, writing, and taking care of short people take up most of my time, but my other interests include cooking and reading contemporary fiction.
E-Mail Professor Cahill Dr. Cahill's Vita Representative Course Syllabi: Critical Thinking -- Spring 2008 Current Controversies in Feminism -- Spring 2008 Sample assignments Engage With an Expert Assignment Modes of Embodiment Assignment
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