Tomas de Rezende Rocha

Tomas de Rezende Rocha is Assistant Professor of Philosophy of Education, Justice, and Equity. His current research focuses on describing and critically analyzing practices from different philosophical traditions that are relevant to contemplative education; examining how misogyny might influence political rhetoric that is critical of teachers unions; exploring the use of normative case studies in colleges of education; and tracing how conceptions of testimonio have changed over time, from its origins as a 20th century Latin American literary genre to its current deployment as a 'methodology' in educational research. Past projects have included applications of epistemic justice frameworks for improving the design of open educational practices; critical analyses of the concept of privilege as used in social justice education discourse; of whether comprehensive liberalism's conception of individual autonomy offers sufficient normative grounds for social justice education; and of whether Paulo Freire's notion of 'ser mais' is appropriately translated in Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Rocha currently manages two active editorial projects: he is co-editor of a forthcoming volume with SUNY Press that pairs teachers with academic philosophers of education to co-write essays inspired by Mary Louise Pratt's notion of the 'contact zone'. He is also an associate editor of Lápiz, the journal of the Latin American Philosophy of Education Society (LAPES). In addition to this editorial work, Rocha is part of the LAPES coordinating collective and serves on the Committee on Race and Ethnicity at the Philosophy of Education Society (PES). He has also served on the executive board of the North Eastern Philosophy of Education Society (NEPES).

Rocha's teaching and writing draws from diverse traditions of educational philosophy and includes influential thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Laozi, Gautama Buddha, the pre-conquest Aztecs (via Miguel León-Portilla), Sor Juana Inés de La Cruz, José Carlos Mariátegui, Aimé Césaire, Gabriela Mistral, W. E. B. Du Bois, John Dewey, Frantz Fanon, Paulo Freire, Hannah Arendt, Patricia Hill Collins, bell hooks, Charles Mills, and Maxine Greene, among various other thinkers. Before joining the University of Washington, he taught courses at Columbia University and Fordham University.