Bernardo R. Vargas

Bio

I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Philosophy and a teaching fellow for UNT's Philosophy and Religion department. My primary area of research centers on questions of oppression and liberation, particularly to environmental justice as they pertain to Mexican Americans and Latinxs in the U.S. I approach my research primarily as a philosopher, utilizing philosophical frameworks for world-making to explore the complexities of these issues. I specialize in critical philosophy of race, environmental justice, and decolonial thought, focusing on the interconnections among Latinxs, food, farm workers, racial formation, and environmental racism.

​

I approach my research primarily as a philosopher, utilizing philosophical frameworks for world-making to explore the complexities of these issues. Social and political philosophy often relies on ideal social theory, which begins with an idealized framework of principles, morals, or values and applies them to real-world conditions. 

​

I specialize in critical philosophy of race, environmental justice, and decolonial thought, focusing on the interconnections among Latinxs, food, farm workers, racial formation, and environmental racism.

​

Crossing Latinidades Mellon Humanities Fellow

Starting in August 2023, I will begin my Crossing Latinidades Mellon Humanities Fellowship, where I will be a junior peer and researcher in the Climate and Environmental Justice Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Working Group with faculty from the various members of the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Research Universities including Teresa Cordova (UIC), Michael Mendez (UCI), Ariadna Reyes (UT Arlington), Rachel Havrelock (UIC), Ralph Cintron (UIC), and Rosa Cabrera (UIC).

This Working Group reveals how Latina/o/x communities confront environmental injustices and adapt to extreme climate events. The three regions studied in this project are: Chicago, Los Angeles, and the Dallas- Fort Worth Metroplex. The overarching research question of this research project is: how do low-income Latinx communities experience, adapt, and resist extreme climate events? The supporting research questions are: 1) how does climate change increase/trigger the current inequities experienced by vulnerable Latinx communities? 2) What adaptation strategies have households and communities developed to improve their living conditions and adapt to climate change challenges? This endeavor contains five research projects under its umbrella: (i) Disparate Disaster Impacts on Undocumented Migrants; (ii) Chicago Latinx Voices on Environmental & Climate Change Racism; (iii) Experiences of Slow Violence along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal; (iv) Crossing Humboldt Park and Puerto Rico; and (v) Climate Justice, Sustainability, and the Informal City

​

Minorities and Philosophy (MAP_

I am also a co-founder and current organizer of the Minorities and Philosophy (MAP) chapter at the University of North Texas. MAP’s mission is to address structural injustices in academic philosophy and to remove barriers that impede participation in academic philosophy for members of marginalized groups. I also serve as an undergraduate and graduate MAP Mentor to help minorities navigate academia. For more information about the chapter, click here. 

​