25th Anniversary Meeting of the Phenomenology Roundtable
May 15-17, 2026
DePaul University-Chicago, IL
Call for Papers and Participation
Theme: How Can Phenomenology Confront the Contemporary Global Denial of Truth and Its Attack on Reality? Africana, Decolonial, Critical, and Continental Phenomenological Interventions
The 2026 Phenomenology Roundtable (PR) invites works-in-progress that engage and practice phenomenological inquiry broadly conceived but not limited to “How Can Phenomenology Confront the Contemporary Global Denial of Truth and its Attack on Reality?” We invite projects that deal with issues, theoretical and praxiological, from a phenomenological perspective, including those that critically approach the contemporary world. Three featured sessions will include:
* Invited participant: Decolonial theorist and activist Catherine E. Walsh
* The scholarly and activist work of Marilyn Nissim-Sabat (Emeritus, Lewis University)
* Featured session: Creolizing Phenomenology, with Jacqueline Martinez (Arizona State University) and Paget Henry (Brown University)
Committed to collaborative and highly engaged discussion, the Phenomenology Roundtable welcomes and encourages participation by all those doing phenomenology: students and professors; academics, activists, and artists. Having taken a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its many unforeseen consequences, the Phenomenology Roundtable announces our 25th anniversary meeting, to take place at DePaul University, Chicago, May 15-17, 2026. Some questions to consider will include:
* What are phenomenology’s educational, pedagogical and political implications— rethinking how truth and meaning are cultivated in schools, universities, and communities?
* How can phenomenology resist distortion and manipulation in a world that increasingly denies the existence of truth and reality?
* How do Africana and Latin American decolonial traditions expand phenomenology’s capacity for critique and reimagination?
* What does it mean to live and teach truth as a practice of responsibility and hope?
As the Phenomenology Roundtable is a “working group,” we ask that papers are “works-in-progress.”
LOGISTICS: Depending on the number of participants, we plan to dedicate between 30-45 minutes for each presenter. Since we distribute our paper-drafts beforehand, we ask that participants spend no more than 15 minutes outlining their projects and directing the Roundtable to the points that they would like us to explore and discuss. This will leave most of our time open for meaningful discussion.
Proposals due:
February 2, 2026
Notification of acceptance:
February 23, 2026
Papers due:
April 24, 2026
Please submit your title and 500-word proposal to phen.roundtable@gmail.com
Registration fees for this year’s Roundtable are:
Students: $30 | Early career and Contingent Faculty: $60 | Tenured and Retired Faculty: $75
2026 Hosts and Organizing Committee
Andreea Smaranda Aldea, DePaul University – Department of Philosophy (Co-Organizer)
Krista Brown, DePaul Alumnus, Ph.D. Student, Iliff School of Theology, University of Denver (Co-Organizer)
Lewis R. Gordon, University of Connecticut – Founding Member, Co-Organizer
Jane Anne Gordon, University of Connecticut – Co-Organizer
Stephen Nathan Haymes, DePaul University – College of Education (Host & Co-Organizer)
Sean D. Kirkland, DePaul University – Department of Philosophy (Host & Co-Organizer)
Michael J. Monahan, University of Memphis – Founding Member, Co-Organizer
Michael Paradiso-Michau, Loyola University Chicago – Founding Member, Co-Organizer
Marilyn Nissim-Sabat, Lewis University (Emeritus) – Founding Member, Co-Organizer
Previous Phenomenology Roundtable meetings:
2019: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL
2018: St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, TX
2017: San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
2015: California State University Fresno, Fresno, CA
2014: Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
2013: Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL
2012: Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
2011: Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA
2010: Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
2009: Brown University, Providence, RI
2008: John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY
2007: Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
2006: Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
2005: DePaul University, Chicago, IL
2003: Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
2002: Brown University, Providence, RI
2001: Brown University, Providence, RI
Feel free to share this CFP with your professional networks. Graduate students are especially encouraged to participate.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-qjg5h36qX2m97hVca06e18nbhXDsmxf/view?usp=sharing