About Dr. K. Bailey Thomas

Dr. Bailey Thomas (they/them) is a Black feminist philosopher and critical theorist whose research works at the intersections of social epistemology, Black feminist philosophy, political philosophy, and ethics. Their scholarship examines how structures of power shape practices of knowing and not-knowing, with particular attention to structural ignorance, epistemic erasure, and the intellectual and political traditions through which Black communities theorize and resist oppressive conditions. Across their work, Thomas develops radical Black feminist approaches to questions that are too often separated across epistemological, ethical, and political inquiry.

Thomas holds a dual PhD in Philosophy and African American & Diaspora Studies. They currently serve as the Eleanor M. Carlson Visiting Assistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Rhode Island (2024–2027), Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Louisville (2021–2022), and Postdoctoral Fellow in Philosophy at Dartmouth College (2022–2024). They are also the founder and director of the annual Roundtable for Black Feminist and Womanist Theory, an intellectual community bringing together scholars, students, artists, activists, and practitioners working in Black feminist and womanist traditions.

Thomas’s current research examines the production and maintenance of structural ignorance, the epistemic erasure and appropriation of Black feminist thought, and Black feminist approaches to care, refusal, and political life. Their work asks what becomes possible when Black feminist intellectual traditions are approached not simply as objects of scholarly analysis, but as sites of epistemological, ethical, and political theorizing in their own right.

During their residency at the University of Amsterdam, Thomas will advance their research project, Epistemology of Mourning, which examines Black mourning as an epistemic, ethical, and political practice. The project asks how Black communities- particularly Black women and gender-marginalized people- develop practices of mourning, memory, and care that exceed the epistemic and institutional limits of European museums and archives. It considers what these practices make knowable about Black life, loss, memory, and survival that dominant archival institutions may be structurally unable- or unwilling- to preserve. Hosted by Dr. Michael Thomas in the Department of Philosophy, the residency will also create opportunities for intellectual exchange and collaboration around shared research interests.

As part of the residency, Thomas will convene a one-day masterclass, Archives of Mourning: Black Memory, Loss, and the Limits of the Archive, in late October. Designed as a participatory workshop rather than a traditional public lecture, the masterclass will bring together faculty, students, and members of the wider community to explore the relationship between mourning, memory, and archival practice. Participants will consider what happens to forms of grief, knowledge, and collective memory that exceed the conventions of institutional archives, while exploring Black practices of remembrance and preservation as alternative ways of knowing, caring, and sustaining community.

Thomas will also convene the 7th Annual Roundtable for Black Feminist and Womanist Theory, held November 5–7, 2026, at the University of Amsterdam. The Roundtable brings scholars, students, artists, activists, and community members into sustained conversation around Black feminist and womanist thought and practice. Rather than a conventional academic conference, the Roundtable is organized as a space for intellectual exchange, collective inquiry, and community-building across the boundaries of the university.