Migdalia Arcila-Valenzuela

My research integrates interdisciplinary approaches to ethics—particularly moral psychology—within the broader political and cultural framework of Latin American philosophy. I examine how moral attitudes such as pride and praise shape social recognition and political agency, especially within Black and Indigenous movements in Colombia. I also work on epistemic injustice, feminist philosophy, and the ethical dimensions of race and identity in Latin American contexts. Across my projects, I combine philosophical analysis with historical and social insight to explore how emotions, power, and knowledge practices can both reinforce and challenge structures of oppression.

Journal Articles 

• Arcila-Valenzuela, M. (2025). Laugh it off: Moral Admiration and Humorous Humility. Oxford Studies in Agency and Responsibility Vol. 9 https://doi.org/10.1093/9780198955498.003.0010 

• Arcila-Valenzuela, M. (2025). Visualizing Taxonomic Reasoning: Casta Paintings and the Hierarchization of Bodily Differences. Critical Philosophy of Race, 13 (1), pp. 1-23. https://doi.org/10.5325/critphilrace.13.1.0001 

• Niemi, L., Washington, N., Workman, C., Arcila-Valenzuela, M., De Brigard, F. (2024). The Emotional Impact of Baseless Discrediting of Knowledge: An Empirical Investigation of Epistemic Injustice. Acta Psychologica (244). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104157 

• Páez, Andrés & Arcila-Valenzuela, Migdalia. (2023). Los Problemas Probatorios de la Injusticia Testimonial en el Derecho [The Probative Problems of Testimonial Injustice in Law]. (Isonomía: Revista de Teoría y Filosofía del Derecho) [Isonomia: Journal of Theory and Philosophy of Law]. https://doi.org/10.5347/isonomia.59/2023.653 2 

• Arcila-Valenzuela, Migdalia & Páez, Andrés. (2022). Testimonial Injustice: The Facts of the Matter. Review of Philosophy and Psychology: 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-022-00662-w 

• Arcila-Valenzuela, M. (2012). Roberto Juarroz: El Acontecer de la Palabra [Roberto Juarroz: the Happening of Words]. Pensamiento Humanista (9), 39-54. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11912/7938 

Book Chapters 

• Arcila-Valenzuela, M. (forthcoming). Black Struggles in Colombia: An Agonistic Model of Pride. In S. Rivera Berruz & S. Gallegos-Ordorica (Eds). Philosophy of Black Experience(s): Caribbean and Latin American Perspectives. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 

• Arcila-Valenzuela, M. (forthcoming). Encontrar la Palabra Propia: Injusticia Hermenéutica y El Silencioso Entramado de la Opresión [Finding One’s Own Word: Hermeneutical Injustice and the Silent Network of Oppression]. In Sebastían, F. (Ed). Criminalidad, Opresión e Injusticia [Criminality, Oppression, and Injustice]. Madrid: Marcial Pons. 

Book Reviews 

• Arcila-Valenzuela, M. (2025). Review of “Raising Two Fists: Struggles for Black Citizenship in Multicultural Colombia” by Roosbelinda Cárdenas. Social Movement Studies, 24. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2025.2461501 

Under Review 

• Arcila-Valenzuela, M. “Journey on Foot: The Philosophical Expedition of Fernando González.”  

• Arcila-Valenzuela, M. “On Not Knowing Your Place: An Agonistic Model of Pride.”

Papers In Preparation 

• “The Hard Problem of Grief” 

• “The Recalcitrant Body: Chronic Pain and Practical Agency”