Lavender McKittrick-Sweitzer, Ph.D.
Feminist Social & Political Philosophy
Welcome! My name is Lavender McKittrick-Sweitzer and I'm an Assistant Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies at Butler University in Indianapolis, IN. I am also an affiliate faculty to the Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (RGSS) Program and serve at the RGSS Faculty Fellow to the Efroymson Diversity Center.
Before Butler, I completed my PhD in Philosophy at Ohio State University (2021), a Philosophy MA at University of Missouri - St. Louis (2015), and a Philosophy BA at University of Missouri - Columbia (2013).
Email: lmckittricksweit@butler.edu
You can view my CV here.
My research is currently focused on a concept I call care exploitation. Care exploitation, basically put, occurs when one undermines the dignity of another that has caring sentiments by taking advantage of their vulnerability which arises from caring. Examples of those subjected to the structural and interpersonal care exploitation include public school teachers, US soldiers, activists, mothers, and domestic care workers. In my work I suggest traditional theories of exploitation fail to properly capture this pervasive phenomenon, and offer an account of both interpersonal and structural care exploitation. I also consider who bears responsibility, and how we ought to rectify or prevent it moving forward.