The Love of Nike
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THE LOVE OF NIKE: ON THE DENIALS OF RACIALIZED PATRIARCHY AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF COURAGEOUS OVERCOMING by DANA L. ROGNLIE A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Philosophy and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2018 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Dana L. Rognlie Title: The Love of Nike: On the Denials of Racialized Patriarchy and the Philosophy of Courageous Overcoming This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Philosophy: Bonnie J. Mann Chair Malcolm Wilson Core Member Rocío Zambrana Core Member Jennifer J. Freyd Institutional Representative and Sara D. Hodges Interim Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2018. ii © 2018 Dana L. Rognlie This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (United States) License. iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Dana L. Rognlie Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy June 2018 Title: The Love of Nike: On the Denials of Racialized Patriarchy and the Philosophy of Courageous Overcoming Motivated by student survivors of sexual violence at the ‘University of Nike,’ this dissertation claims the denial of trauma is a central motor to the temporal operation of racialized patriarchy and its philonikian, or ‘victory-loving,’ notions of masculinity. I bear witness to this ‘temporality of denial’ in the institutional responses of the University of Oregon and UO-alum Phil Knight’s Nike corporation to the group sexual assault of Jane Doe by three university men’s basketball players. I also think through philosophies of overcoming this ancient operation of patriarchy in contemporary times. Simone de Beauvoir suggests that patriarchy provides tempting avenues to flee our freedom of becoming who we are by denying the ambiguity of our human subjectivity. Instead, human potential is funneled into hierarchical gendered destinies derived from ancient perceived binaries of natural, embodied sex difference prescribing masculine material, political, and ontological domination. Rape, war, and conquest are central to this logic, a logic racialized in the Modern era of European colonization. Recent trauma-informed feminist psychology suggests that denial is a psychological mechanism that has efficiently abetted patriarchal oppression throughout history. I suggest Plato, the ‘father’ of the contemporary Academy, may have recognized this in his philosophy. To overcome centuries of masculine bias in interpretation, I undertake a close feminist translation of the war veteran Socrates’ pursuit of the virtue ‘andreia’ (ἀνδρεία), both ‘manliness’ and ‘courage’ in the Greek, through several dialogues contextualized within their dramatic placement in the history of the Peloponnesian War. Socrates’ pursuit of ‘andreia’ includes a critique of the denials of philonikian ‘manliness’ and a hunt for an alternative philosophical understanding. I suggest this wisdom-loving ‘andreia’ is articulated as a gender-critical vision of the strength and courage of love to iv recollect and rebirth oneself in the aftermath of trauma. Finally, I return to Beauvoir’s feminist philosophy of freedom and its temporality of repetition to further distinguish the ‘forgetting’ of denial from the ‘forgetting’ involved in trauma’s overcoming. The latter requires we collectively sacrifice the destinies of patriarchal ontology as we continue to build a world in which victims of trauma might not only survive, but meaningfully live. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Dana L. Rognlie GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy, 2018, University of Oregon Certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, 2018, University of Oregon Master of Arts in Philosophy, 2012, University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts, 2010, Majors: Philosophy, Political Science, Minor: Women’s Studies, Concordia College AREAS OF INTEREST: AOS: Ancient Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy, Social and Political Philosophy AOC: 19th and 20th C. Continental, Ethics, Philosophy of Race, History of Philosophy, Trauma Theory, Beauvoir, Nietzsche, Plato PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Adjunct Instructor, Department of Philosophy, Concordia College, Moorhead, 2014 Graduate Employee, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of Oregon, Eugene, 2016-2018 Graduate Employee, Department of Philosophy, University of Oregon, Eugene, 2015-2016 Graduate Employee, Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Oregon, Eugene, 2013-2014 Graduate Employee, Department of Philosophy, University of Oregon, Eugene, 2010-2013 vi GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Paideia Teaching Award, Department of Philosophy, University of Oregon, 2016 Public Impact Fellowship, Graduate School, University of Oregon, ($6000), 2015-2016 Gary E. Smith Summer Professional Development Award, Graduate School, University of Oregon, ($3000), 2014 Graduate Fellow Research Grant, Center for the Study of Women in Society, University of Oregon, ($3000), 2014 Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Departments of Philosophy, WGSS, and ES, University of Oregon, 2010-present Summa Cum Laude, Concordia College, 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Scholar, Norwegian Nobel Institute, Oslo, Norway, 2009-2010 PUBLICATIONS: Rognlie, Dana. “Only Deeds: Twenty Years Later and Still Not Recognizing What It’s Like to Be a Woman in Philosophy.” The London School of Economics and Political Science: Engenderings. 27 Mar. 2014. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/gender/2014/03/27/only-deeds-twenty-years-later- and-still-not-recognizing-what-its-like-to-be-a-woman-in-philosophy/ (accessed May 2018). Rognlie, Dana. “Book Review: Elena Duvergès Blair: Plato’s Dialectic on Woman: Equal, Therefore Inferior. APA Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy. 13.1 (Fall 2013): 13-15. PRESENTATIONS: Rognlie, Dana. “Don’t Forget the Whip!: Beauvoirian Sex Difference, Sacrifice, and the Repetition of Freedom.” 23rd International Beauvoir Conference. University of Wisconsin-Superior, Superior, WI. June 2016. Rognlie, Dana. “Andreia: Just for Men?” Hypatia and the APA Committee on the Status of Women Conference: Exploring Collaborative Contestations and Diversifying Philosophy. Villanova University, Villanova, PA. May 2015. vii Rognlie, Dana. “Flute-Girls as Arendtian Actors: Re-Reading Plato’s Symposium.” 7th Annual PhiloSOPHIA Conference. Banff, Canada. May 2013. Rognlie, Dana. “Flute-Girls, Sovereignty, and Plurality: The Eroticism of Arendt’s Political Action.” Annual Meeting of the Western Political Science Association. Hollywood, CA. April 2013. Rognlie, Dana. “The Feminist Knight of Faith: Simone de Beauvoir’s Politicization of Kierkegaardian Love and Repetition.” 19th International Beauvoir Conference. University of Oregon, Eugene, OR. June 2011. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank my advisor, Bonnie Mann, for her enduring patience, brilliance, and support during my process of personal growth while writing this dissertation. The joy has not been without its blood, sweat, and tears, and I am both a better person and philosopher for it. I also thank the members of my committee: Rocío Zambrana for pushing me to have the courage to critically pursue my topic of inquiry from the depths of my own subjectivity and in my own voice; Malcolm Wilson for trusting me in my own feminist project while providing a guiding light in my navigation of the ancient world; and Jennifer Freyd for her mentorship and her relentless yet humble example of how to live the life of a feminist scholar-activist. I am also grateful for the allied support of University of Oregon Philosophy faculty Colin Koopman and Naomi Zack, members of the University of Oregon Coalition Against Sexual Violence, and the many survivors and activists on campus, especially the undergraduate students. I owe appreciation, also, to the mentors who encouraged me to apply to the University of Oregon doctoral program in Philosophy and who offered an abundance of personal and professional support along the way: Fred Sternhagen, Jason Regnier, Jan Pranger, Elna Solvang, Richard Gilmore, and my first philosophy mentor, George Connell. I am grateful for the financial support and recognition provided by the University of Oregon Graduate School’s Public Impact Fellowship, the Gary E. Smith Summer Professional Development Award, and the Center for the Study of Women in Society’s Graduate Fellow Research Grant. I thank the members of the Departments of Philosophy, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Ethnic Studies of the University of Oregon as well as the Department of Philosophy of Concordia College for the teaching opportunities and mentorship. I am also grateful for my union brothers, sisters, and cousins of the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation (GTFF-3544) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT-Oregon and AFT-National), whose continued efforts ensured my salary, healthcare, and workplace protections while providing opportunity for me to exercise my political agency. In particular, I thank Judith Lechner, Keegan Shepherd, and Chris Goff for their discerning leadership, comradery, and encouragement. Thanks also go to the ‘SASSies’ of Sexual Assault Support Services of Lane County for the vital emotional and political ix labor they perform in the community while demonstrating