Contact: Sammy McDavid
A Mississippi State University teacher is co-editor of a newly published collection of philosophical essays dealing with the poor, the disabled and other groups often portrayed as "outsiders" in society.
"Marginal Groups and Mainstream American Culture" is compiled and prepared, in part, by Yolanda D. Estes, an assistant professor of philosophy. University Press of Kansas released the 277-page book Monday [Dec. 11].
Joining Estes as co-editors are Arnold L. Farr of St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pa., Patricia Smith of the City University of New York's Baruch College and Clelia Smyth of the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
Estes wrote both the book's introduction and one of its 14 chapters-an examination of her own youth as "a loner/rebel/renegade." Her MSU colleague, philosophy and religion professor Wallace A. Murphree, discusses in another chapter the effects on children of imposed dogmatic religious and secular beliefs.
"Most accounts of marginalization approach the subject from a distance and tend to overemphasize the victimization of outsiders," said University Press' Jessica M. Pigza. "Taking a more intimate approach, this book reveals the personal, moral and social implications of marginalization by drawing upon the actual experiences of such individuals."
Other chapter contributors include Sandra Bartky of the University of Illinois at Chicago; Sigal R. Benporath of Tel Aviv (Israel) University; Gavin Brown of the University of East London (England); Jeffrey Bussolini, also of Baruch College; and co-editor Arnold Farr.
Also featured are the thoughts of Rosemarie Garland-Thomson of Howard University; Patrick D. Hopkins of Ripon (Wis.) College; Diana T. Meyers of the University of Connecticut; Christine Overall of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada; co-editors Patricia Smith and Clelia Smyth; Rebecca Tsosie of Arizona State University; and Jami Weinstein, another Baruch faculty member.