Joey Aloi is a born-and-raised Appalachian from West Virginia with years of experience in local food. He spearheaded aggregation and distribution efforts for KISRA’s Paradise Farms in Dunbar, and in this capacity was one of the founding members of the Turnrow Appalachian Farms Collective. He has also served as the President of the Board of Directors of the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition. He came to his work in Appalachian foodways as an Appalachian Transition Fellow with the Highlander Research and Education Center. This work was not only a result of his connection to his homeplace, but a result of an education in Environmental Philosophy. In this capacity, he studied Philosophy of Food at the University of North Texas, where he wrote on hermeneutics and environmental aesthetics for his doctoral dissertation. Before that, he studied Philosophy of Technology in Montana, and wrote a Master’s Thesis on wilderness and culture. His published academic works touch on environmental ethics, economic transition, environmental justice, and the role of the forest in Appalachian foodways. He’s currently serving on the board of the Buckhannon River Watershed Association.

• [Under Review]: “We’ve Found Something Good Here: Dietic Discourse & Environmental Engagement ” (co-written with Charles B. Hayes). A Special Issue of Environmental Ethics entitled A Constructive Environmentalism: Around Steven Vogel’s Critical Theory of World-Making.
• 2023: “Mutual Aid in a Time of Disaster: Kropotkin and Climate Adaptation.” Kropotkin Now! Life, Freedom, Ethics. Black Rose Books, Montreal, Quebec.
• 2023: “Perception and the Nature of Ethics: How to Learn About Place and Ethics from Literature,” Appalachian Ecocriticism and the Paradox of Place. University of Georgia Press.
• 2018: “Coal Feeds My Family: Subsistence, Energy, and Industry in Central Appalachia,” Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism. Special Issue: “Energy Ethics: Emerging Perspectives in Times of Energy Transitions”

• 2023, “Eloquent Silence: Vogel and Borgmann on Speech and Practice.” Co-presented (with Charles Hayes) virtually at Digital Worlds; University of Texas, Rio Grande.
• 2023, “Field Philosophy in Appalachia,” 46th Annual Appalachian Studies Conference; Athens, OH.
• 2022, “Foresters as Key Community Players in Rural Economies: A Case Study using ‘Reading the Woods’,” 2022 Society of American Foresters Convention; Baltimore (Co-presented with Evelyn Hartman, Future Generations University).
• 2022, “Quantification and Scientific Medicine: Gadamer and the Problem of Bias in Healthcare.” Presented virtually at Digital Worlds; University of Texas, Rio Grande.
• 2022, “The Uniqueness of Local Food Dynamics in Central Appalachia,” 45th Annual Appalachian Studies Conference; Morgantown, WV.
• 2021, “Focal Curiosity: Technology and David Wood’s ‘Cosmic Passions’,” presented virtually at the 25th Annual Meeting of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy.
• 2021, “Nonanthropocentrism in the Anthropocene: Participation in the Epochal Play of Nature,” Presented virtually at the 14th conference of the International Institute of Applied Aesthetics
• 2021, “The Guiding Concepts of Huuumanism: The Rise and Fall of Useless, Unsuccessful, and/or Unpopular Memes.” Presented virtually at Digital Worlds; University of Texas, Rio Grande.
• 2021, “Mutual Aid in a Time of Disaster: Kropotkin and Climate Adaptation.” Presented virtually at Life, Freedom, Ethics: Kropotkin Now. Montreal, Quebec.
• 2020, “Mineral Springs and the Urbanization of Nature.” Intended for the 43rd Annual Appalachian Studies Conference; Lexington, KY. (Conference cancelled; presentation available online)
• 2018, “Wilderness and Culture in Appalachia.” Presented at the 41st Annual Appalachian Studies Conference; Cincinnati, OH.
• 2018, “The Culture and Nature of Springs.” Presented at 2018 ASPECT Graduate Conference; Blacksburg, VA.
• 2017, “The Place of a Story: How the Mimetic Character of Narrative Helps Create a Place.” Presented at the 40th Annual Appalachian Studies Conference; Blacksburg, VA.

• PRC 604 - Synthesis and Integration