Ciao!

I’m an editor and philosophy lecturer who’s exiting academia to begin a journey towards a new, better, kind of life.

I’m Joshua Rey Ramos.

And yes, I’m a recovering academic.

A native Texan who grew up in Houston, I’ve lived in Dallas, Boston, Denver, and a lake house in Oklahoma. I also lived in Zagreb (Croatia), Vienna (Austria), Rome (Italy), and Florence (Italy).

I have a PhD from the University of Denver in philosophy and religion. I wrote my dissertation on globalization and theories of secularization in the West. I’ve taught philosophy, religion, and political science at various universities, as well as community college.

I was a visiting researcher at the University of Vienna, and while there in Austria I took part in the Young Scientist Summer Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria. I worked with demographers on the question of secularization in the West in relation to fertility rates and immigration. https://iiasa.ac.at/web/scientificUpdate/2013/Ramos.html

Here is an article I wrote on demographics of religion: “Demographics as Destiny”. https://jcrt.org/archives/12.3/ramos.pdf

I was also a visiting Social and Political Science Researcher at the European University Institute in Fiesole, Italy.

Before entering academia, I was a missionary who went to seminary to study to be a priest. While most normal people hedonistically sexed, drugged and rock n’ rolled throughout their twenties, oddly enough I spent my youth in church getting a degree in biblical studies. La folie de la jeunesse.

Yet, was a transition to an academic career any less hedonistic la follia? Penso che no.

I am an Italian translator, having one book of poetry published through TerreSommerse, in Rome, Italy. I am currently working on a novel about a young Roman’s experience living in China for a decade, opening a hostel, and living in the Chinese underground. It’s a social and cultural critique of Italy through China, and China through Italy, the Occidental and Oriental.

Welcome to the show.

Cheers,

Ramos