Elvira Basevich, Ph.D.

I am Assistant Professor of Philosophy at University of Massachusetts, Lowell. I received my Ph.D. in Philosophy at The Graduate Center, CUNY in 2017. 

My research reconstructs the normative basis of W.E.B. Du Bois's critique of 19th and 20th c. American society, highlighting the interrelation of the concepts of freedom and race in the development of American modernity. I specialize in social and political philosophy, normative ethics, Africana philosophy, feminist philosophy, and the history of philosophy (esp. late modern German philosophy). I also have an interest in the philosophy of literature. 

I grew up in Brooklyn, NY, where I heard the Atlantic Ocean from my bedroom window, and have proudly attended NYC public schools my entire life, from elementary school to graduate school. In my free time, I write poetry and volunteer in outreach programs that facilitate philosophical discussion in vulnerable communities. In my first poetry book, How to Love the World, I map my mother's journey to NYC as an asylum seeker from the former Soviet Union, while she is very pregnant with me. The book is also a love letter to Brighton Beach, the neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY where I grew up.

​You can find my recent interview on Du Bois, racial identity, and democratic plurality here:
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https://www.mixcloud.com/BKPP/episode-3-elvira-basevich-on-web-du-boiss-racialism/

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