Education
Ph.D. in Political Science
Yale University. Expected 2020.
Dissertation Title: “The Place of the Ideal in Emancipatory Critique.”
Committee: Hélène Landemore, Karuna Mantena, Seyla Benhabib (Chair).
M.A. in Political Science
Yale University. Completed 2017
B.A. in Political Science.
Reed College. Completed 2012
Awards, Grants, and Fellowships
2017-2019
McDougal Teaching Fellow
2011
Alta S. Corbett Grant for Research on Public Policy Issues
Invited Talks
2018
“Black, White, and ‘Countrymen’: James Baldwin on Our Inescapable Union.” Reed College, 3/21/2018. Powerpoint
Conference Participation
2018
“Black Invocations of the American Founding: Mixing Ideal and Non-Ideal Theory.” American Political Science Association. August 30- September 3.
2018
“Black Invocations of the American Founding: The Methodological Compatibility of Ideal and Non-Ideal Theory.” New England Political Science Association. April 19-21.
2017
“Deliberation and the Marginalized Self: Reciprocity and the Self/Other Relation.” Association for Political Theory. October 12-14.
2016
“Shaping Safe Spaces: Deliberation and the Painful Practice of Activism.” American Political Science Association. September 1-4. (Accepted)
2016
“Our Impossible National Conversation about Race: Translation, Discourse, and the Problem of Recognition.” New England Political Science Association. April 22-23.
Teaching
WR TF for “Sex, Markets, and Power.” Prof. Frances Rosenbluth (Spring 2018)
WR TF for “Introduction to Political Philosophy.” Prof. Hélène Landemore (Fall 2017)
WR TF for “Moral Foundations of Politics.” Prof. Ian Shapiro (Spring 2017)
TF for “Human Rights: Theory and Politics.” Profs. Ali Miller and David Simon. (Spring 2016)
TF for “Gandhi, King, and the Politics of Nonviolence.” Prof. Karuna Mantena (Fall 2015)
Non-Academic Work
2009-2019
Instructor, Board Member, and Teaching Mentor for the Texas Debate Collective.
The Texas Debate Collective is a high school camp to teach debate skills (including public speaking, political theory, and civic education) to a population of predominately underserved and minority populations. The teaching mentor role assists the instructors of the camp, who are predominately college students, both in curriculum development and classroom management skills. Part of this role involves using my knowledge of content such as democratic theory to teach younger staff members who are undergraduates.
Image from the zine “Alien,” issue # 6. Written and Published by Whitknee. Photo by Rebecca Traber.