I use ideas from social and political theory to try to illuminate concrete problems of structural injustice, like poverty and exploitation. I have also written about the justice claims of cultural and religious groups within the context of constitutional democratic states. My most recent book, Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-Led Social Movements (Oxford University Press, 2021), argues that progressive and just poverty eradication needs to be centered on the analyses and aims of poor-led social movements and their organizations. You can download a free copy here.
I hold a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Ethics & Global Social Change at the University of Guelph, where I am a Professor of Philosophy and co-director of the Grounded & Engaged Theory (GET) lab.
From 2012 to 2019, I directed Initiatives in Global Justice (IGJ), a research consortium of U of Guelph researchers addressing ethical and political issues related to globalization. In 2022, Dr. Candace Johnson (Political Science) and I started up the GET Lab at the University of Guelph to encourage and support student and postdoctoral researchers doing empirically-informed normative theorizing.
In 2021, with Brooke Ackerly, Genevieve Fuji Johnson, and Chris Tenove, I co-founded the Engaged Theory Community, a global network that connects political philosophers and theorists — students too — who do grounded and engaged normative political theory. What is engaged theory and why do it? Take a look at recent webinars on our website, below. The Oxford Handbook of Grounded and Engaged Normative Theory (in progress), of which I am a co-editor, is an outcome of this collaboration.
Note to Prospective Graduate Students:
I supervise M.A. and Ph.D students in social and political philosophy, normative and applied ethics (including development ethics), and feminist philosophy. If you are interested in doing socially-engaged philosophy/political theory with an empirical research component, consider applying to join our GET lab.
Graduate Teaching:
- 2023: Grounded & Engaged Approaches to Political Theory/Philosophy (taught in collaboration with Dr. Brooke Ackerly’s course at Vanderbilt University)
- 2022: Grounded & Engaged Approaches to Political Theory/Philosophy
- 2022: Black Political Thought in the era of #BLM
- 2020: The Ethics of Migration
- 2018: Political Solidarity
- 2017: Poverty: Ethical & Normative Debates
- 2016: Global Ethics; Social Power
- 2015: The Ethics of Development
Post-Doctoral Scholars:
If you are a researcher looking for a vibrant political philosophy community to carry out your funded postdoctoral research, please get in touch. Past postdoctoral researchers: Dr. Jennifer Szende (PhD, Queen’s) and Dr. Cristian Dimitriu (PhD, U Toronto).
Ph.D. Dissertation Supervision (Advisor)
- Shannon Boss, “You Are What You Eat: Orthorexia, Purity, and Health in the Digital Age” (defended Sept. 2022)
- Cameron Fioret, “The Ethics of Water: From Commodification to Common Ownership” (defended August 2021)
- Marie-Pier Lemay, “Grounding Transnational Feminist Solidarity” (defended Nov. 2021)
- Veronica Majewski, “Toward a Listening-Focused Account of Deliberative Democracy” (2013—2018/withdrew)
- Joshua Mousie: “Nonhuman Publics and Human Politics: Reimagining the Political Sphere” (defended Dec. 2015)
- Christi Storfa: “Global Justice Unbounded: Social Connection Through Mutual Flourishing” (defended Sept. 2021)
- Mirella Tranquille, “Agency of the ‘Freed Slaves’: the Ethics of Violence in Black Resistance in the U.S.” (2020 —)
- Gordon Trenbeth, “Solidarity with Non-Human Others: Theorizing and (Re)Presenting Interspecies Solidarity” (defended Sept. 2023)
MA Supervision (Advisor)
- Chelsea Emery, “The Organic Crisis of Neoliberalism: the Populist Moment and the Tendency Toward Caesarism” (April 2024)
- Jeremy Wiens, “Doing Development Justice: Corruption, Non-ideal Theory, and Global Justice” (Sept. 2023)
- Gregory Corey, “Non-Economic Contradictions of Capitalism” (Aug. 2021)
- Mahdi Dadgari Alamdari, “Cosmopolitanism as an Answer to Ethnic Issues in Iran” (June 2021)
- Marian Kelly, “Theorizing the Relationship between Participation and Health Equity in Brazil’s Participatory Health Councils” (Aug. 2018)
- Sofian Aouamri, “An Alernative Framework for Transnational Solidarity: Edith Stein’s Concept of Solidarity” (April 2017)
Conferences Hosted:
- Guelph Summit on Migrant Justice, January 2023.
- Theoretical Explorations of Exploitation in Practice at the University of Guelph, October 2015
- Thinking Beyond Distribution: A Workshop on Global Justice, held at the Centre for Ethics at the University of Toronto in October 2012
- Rethinking Inequality: Philosophical Reflections on Recent Empirical Research, held at the University of Ottawa in November 2012
Education
Ph.D. and M.Phil, University of Cambridge
M.A. and B.A. Hon. (Political Science), McGill University
Positions
Professor and CRC (Tier 1) in Ethics & Global Social Change, Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph, 2010 to present.
Assistant Professor (1998-2004) Associate Professor of Political Science, Williams College, 2004-2010
Residential Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, 2001-2002
SSHRC Post-doctoral fellow, Wiener Center, JFK School of Government, Harvard University, 1997-1998
Research
Books
- Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-led Social Movements (Oxford University Press, 2021). Open access – download here. For commentaries on the book and my responses, see recent symposiums in the Journal of Global Ethics and Ethics & Global Politics.
- Exploitation: From Practice to Theory. Eds. Monique Deveaux and Vida Panitch. Rowman & Littlefield, February 2017
- Introduction to Social and Political Philosophy: Texts and Cases. Eds. Monique Deveaux and Omid Payrow Shabani. Oxford University Press, 2014
- Reading Onora O’Neill. Eds. M. Deveaux, D. Archard, D.Weinstock & N. Manson. Routledge, 2013.
- Sexual Justice/Cultural Justice: Critical Perspectives in Political Theory & Practice. Eds. M. Deveaux, B.Arneil, R. Dhamoon, & A. Eisenberg. Routledge 2007.
- Gender and Justice in Multicultural Liberal States. Oxford University Press, 2006 (U.K.)/2007 (U.S.). (Intro & Conclusion here)
- Cultural Pluralism and Dilemmas of Justice. Cornell University Press, 2000
Journal Articles and Book Chapters
- “Reflections on Poor-led Poverty Abolition: A Reply to Matthews, Pilapil, Igneski and Peeters,” Journal of Global Ethics, vol. 19, no. 3 (2023): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17449626.2023.227559
- “Introduction: Symposium on Monique Deveaux’s Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-led Social Movements,” Journal of Global Ethics, vol. 19, no. 3 (2023).
- “Reply to Critics: Ethics & Global Politics book symposium on Deveaux’s Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-led Social Movements,” Ethics & Global Politics vol 16, no. 2 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1080/16544951.2023.2225903
- “Poor-Led Social Movements and Global Justice,” Political Theory vol. 46, no. 5 (2018) DOI: 10.1177/0090591718776938
- “Re-evaluating Sufficientarianism in Light of Evidence of Inequality’s Harms,” Ethics and Social Welfare vol 12, no. 2 (2018). DOI: 10.1080/17496535.2017.1324577
- Appeals to Choice and Sexual Equality: Debates Over Religious Attire. In Personal Autonomy in Plural Societies: A Principle and its Paradoxes, eds. M-C Foblets, A.Dundes Renteln, and M. Graziadei (Routledge, 2018).
- “Deliberative Democracy and Multiculturalism”. Chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy, eds. M. Warren, A. Bechtinger, J. Mansbridge, and J. Dryzek (Oxford University Press, Sept. 2018)
- “Religion, Tradition, Autonomy: Can Intersectional Theory Reveal Openings for Women’s Agency?,” Iride, vol. 31, no. 2 (2018): 279-294.
- “The Underrepresentation of Women in Prestigious Ethics Journals,” Hypatia vol. 32, no. 4 (2017). Co-authored with M. Krishnamurthy, S. Liao, and M. Dalecki. https://doi.org/10.1111/hypa.12351.
- “Effective Deliberative Inclusion of Women in Contexts of Traditional Political Authority,” Democratic Theory vol. 3, no. 2 (2016): 2-25
- “Beyond the Redistributive Paradigm: What Philosophers Can Learn from Poor-Led Politics.” In Ethical Issues in Poverty Alleviation, eds. H.P. Gaisbauer et al. (Springer 2016)
- “Exploitation, Structural Injustice, and the Cross-Border Trade in Human Ova,” Journal of Global Ethics vol. 12, no. 1 (2016), pp. 48-68
- “The Global Poor as Agents of Justice,” Journal of Moral Philosophy, vol. 12, no. 2 (2015): 125-50.
- “Critical Perspectives on Global Justice: At the Frontier,” (co-authored with Kathryn Walker) Journal of Global Ethics, vol. 9, no. 2 (2013):111-114.
- “Regimes of Accommodation, Hierarchies of Rights,” in Revealing Democracy: Religion and Secularism and Religion in Liberal Democracy, eds. C. Maillé, G. Nielsen, and D. Salèe (Peter Lang Press, 2013)
- “Rethinking Inequality: Introduction,” (co-authored with Patti Lenard) Philosophical Topics, vol. 40, no. 1 (2012): 1-6
- “Normative Liberal Theory and the Bifurcation of Human Rights,” Ethics and Global Politics, vol. 2, no. 3 (September 2009): 171-19.
- “Personal Autonomy and Cultural Tradition,” in Sexual Justice/Cultural Justice: Critical Perspectives in Political Theory and Practice, ed. B. Arneil, M. Deveaux, R. Dhamoon, A. Eisenberg (Routledge, 2007).
- “A Deliberative Approach to Conflicts of Culture” Political Theory, vol. 31, no. 6 (2003): 780-807. Republished in Minorities Within Minorities: Equality, Rights and Diversity, Eds. A. Eisenberg and J. Spinner-Halev (Cambridge University Press, 2005)
- “Liberal Constitutions and Traditional Cultures: the South African Customary Law Debate,” Citizenship Studies, vol. 7, no. 2 (2003): 161-80
- “Political Morality and Culture,” Social Theory and Practice, vol. 28, no. 3 (2002): 503-518. Republished in Contemporary Literary Criticism, vol. 203 (May 2005)
- “Conflicting Equalities,” Political Studies, vol. 48, no. 3 (2000): 522-539.
- “Cultural Pluralism from Liberal Perfectionist Premises,” Polity, vol. 32, no. 4 (2000): 473-497.
- “Feminism and Empowerment: A Critical Reading of Foucault,” in Feminist Approaches to Theory and Methodology: An Interdisciplinary Reader, Eds. Shere Hesse-Biber et al. (Oxford University Press, 1999)
- “Agonism and Pluralism,” Philosophy and Social Criticism, vol. 25, no. 4 (1999): 1-22.
- “Toleration and Respect,” Public Affairs Quarterly, vol. 12, no. 4 (1998): 407-427.
- “Feminism and Empowerment: A Critical Reading of Foucault,” in Rereading the Canon: Feminist Interpretations of Foucault, ed. Susan Hekman (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996)
- “New Directions in Feminist Ethics,” European Journal of Philosophy, vol. 3, no. 1 (1995): 86-96.
- “Shifting Paradigms: Theorizing Care and Justice in Political Theory,” Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, vol. 10, no. 2 (1995): 115-119.
- “Feminism and Empowerment,” Feminist Studies, vol. 20, no. 2 (1994): 223-247.
Selected Talks:
- June 2024 ““Rethinking Structural Exploitation: Temporary Migrant Workers and State-Conditioned Vulnerability.” Séminaire de philosophie économique, Aix-Marseille School of Economics.
- April 2024 “Structural Exploitation and Temporary Foreign Worker Programs.” International Studies Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco.
- March 2024 “Rethinking Structural Exploitation: Temporary Migrant Workers and State-Conditioned Vulnerability.” Concordia University, Ethics Lecture Series.
- March 2024 “Not by Markets Alone: Migrant Workers and State-Conditioned Exploitation.” University of Waterloo, Philosophy Department Colloquium.
- Nov. 2023 “What Philosophers Can Learn From Poor-led Social Movements.” Colgate University, Peace & Conflict Studies Program and Department of Philosophy.
- June 2023 “Politicizing Poverty: What Can be Learned from Poor-led Social Movements.” Invited lecture, Collège Internationale de Philosophie, seminar series on poverty.
- December 2020 “Grounding Normative Theorizing in Concrete, Justice-Seeking Struggles.” Carleton University Philosophy Colloquium (zoom talk).
- March 2020 “The Capability Approach and Transformative Poverty Reduction.” Western University Philosophy Colloquium.
- June 2017 “Movements versus Markets: What, If Anything, is Special About the Organizations and Social Movements of the Poor?” University of British Columbia workshop: New Directions in Ethics and Poverty.
- March 2017 “Why Global Inequality – and Not Just Poverty – Matters.” Ohio State University COMPAS (Conversations on Morality, Politics & Society) conference: On Global Inequality.
- February 2017 “Religion, Tradition, and Autonomy: Can Intersectionality Reveal Openings for Women’s Agency?”. Keynote lecture, VII Congress of the Italian Society of Women Historians, Pisa, Italy.
- February 2017 “Reframing Chronic Poverty and its Alleviation through the Insights and Strategies of Poor-led Movements.” Talk, Dept. of Ethics, Social & Political Philosophy, University of Groningen, the Netherlands.
- October 2016 “Reframing Chronic Poverty and its Alleviation through the Insights and Strategies of Poor-led Movements.” Ethics & Public Affairs Program, and Dept. of Philosophy, Carleton Unviersity
- May 2016 “Global Justice From Below? The Value of Poor-led Social Movements to Poverty Alleviation.” Keynote talk, University of Salzburg Workshop on Philosophy and Poverty
- May 2016 “Global Justice From Below? The Value of Poor-led Social Movements to Poverty Alleviation.” Free University, Berlin (Kolloquium Zur Praktischen Philosophie)
- April 2016 “Global Justice From Below? The Value of Poor-led Social Movements to Poverty Alleviation.” Society for Women in Philosophy workshop (SWIP-SHOP), CUNY Graduate Center
- Sept. 2015 “How Should the Political Movements of the Poor Figure in Theorizing About Global Justice?” Symposium on ‘Global Justice: New Directions in Research and Advocacy,’ Ghent, Belgium
- May 2015 “Is the Cross-Border Trade in Human Eggs Wrongfully Exploitative?” Gender and Global Justice Conference, Centre for Global Ethics, University of Birmingham (UK)
- July 2014 “Egg Donation: An Assessment of Key Feminist Ethical Objections.” British Society for Applied Philosophy, Oxford, UK
- July 2014 “Global Injustice and the Market in Human Eggs.” 15th International Association of Women Philosophers Symposium, Alcalá de Henares, Spain
- June 2014 “Sexual Equality and Personal Autonomy: Possibilities of Pluralistic Interpretations.” Conference on ‘(Not) Outside My Culture: Paradoxes of Personal Autonomy in a Plural Society,’ Max Plank Institute, Halle, Germany
- Feb. 2014 “The Cross-Border Trade in Human Eggs: an Ethical Conundrum from the Perspective of Global Justice.” Workshop on Global Surrogacy and Reproductive Markets, University of Ottawa
- Jan. 2014 “Sufficiency, Priority, and the Harms of Inequality.” Invited talk, Philosophy Department colloquium series, McMaster University
- March 2013 “The Global Poor as Agents of Justice.” Invited talk, Laurentian University (Seminar on Thought and Culture)
- Nov. 2012 “Agents or Subjects of Global Justice?”. Invited talk, McMaster University (Society for Philosophy and Culture & the Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition)
- March and April 2011 “When is Sufficiency Not Enough? Revisiting Sufficiency and Priority Views in Light of Inequality’s Harms.” Talk presented at the University of Toronto (Centre for Ethics); University of Waterloo (Philosophy Department), and the University of Ottawa (Graduate School of Public and International Affairs)
- April 2010 “The Subjects of Global Justice.” Philosophy Department Colloquium, Dalhousie University