El martes, 24 de junio, a las 11.30, en la Sala de Juntas de Filosofía, tendrá lugar otra sesión del seminario TeC-FiloLab. Nos acompañará Bianca Cepollaro, de la Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele de Milán.
A continuación tenéis el título y el resumen de su charla, así como una breve nota sobre la trayectoria de Bianca.
Title: «Counterstereotypes as Counterspeech» (joint work with Maxime Lepoutre)
Abstract: Social philosophy of language has recently looked at counterspeech practices—communication that tries to counteract potential harm brought about by bigoted discourse. In this work, we address the question whether counterstereotypical representations of oppressed groups—for example women or migrants—in TV shows, movies, advertising, books, etc. can work as counterspeech. While most scholars agree that prejudice-confirming representations of oppressed groups can contribute to spreading and reinforcing bigotry, in this paper we address the opposite direction, by exploring the promise and pitfalls of using counterstereotypical models to counter harmful representations, focusing particularly (though not exclusively) on gender-related counterstereotypes. We begin by articulating key mechanisms by means of which counterstereotypical models can mitigate or block harm. Strictly speaking, such models seldom contradict the prejudicial representations that they are opposing. But even so, they can nonetheless inspire counterstereotypical action, expose the influence of prejudicial stereotypes on our thinking, and ultimately help displace prejudicial stereotypes. Yet not all counterstereotypes successfully fulfil these functions. Some counterstereotypes are actually designed to enforce compliance with oppressive norms—e.g., cautionary tales illustrating the “dangers” associated with counterstereotypical behaviour. Moreover, counterstereotypes often backfire even when intended to counter oppressive norms. We diagnose potential reasons for this backfire effect, including that the counterstereotype seems unbelievable; that it is taken as an exception that “proves the rule”; that it distorts reality; and that it reinforces the salience of the stereotype it counters, or is itself excessively salient. Our purpose, in doing so, is not to encourage or discourage the use of counterstereotypical models, but rather to identify key parameters influencing their success and moral appropriateness. By diagnosing why even well-intentioned counterstereotypical models often fail to achieve their intended purposes, this work provides constructive guidance for counterspeech practice.
Bio: Bianca Cepollaro is a Research Fellow at the Faculty of Philosophy in University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, where she teaches Classics in Analytic Philosophy, General Linguistics, Methodologies and Philosophical Writing. She’s a member of CRESA (Research Center for Experimental and Applied Epistemology). After she graduated in Philosophy at the University of Milan, she earned a PhD in Philosophy and Linguistics, in a co-tutorship program between the Institut Jean Nicod (ENS, Paris) and the Scuola Normale Superiore (Pisa). She was a post-doc fellow at IFILNOVA (Lisbon) in the project «Values in Argumentative Discourse», then at the Faculty of Philosophy, San Raffaele University, in the project «Slurs, Hate speech and Discrimination» and at the University of Milan, in the Department of Philosophy titled «Experimental approaches in Cognitive Pragmatics». She is interested in philosophy of language, semantics, pragmatics, linguistics, metaethics and experimental philosophy. Her research focuses on theory of meaning and, in particular, expressive and evaluative language.