Teaching Experience
The Politics of Freedom (Spring 2025)
Cross-Listed: Political Science, Interdisciplinary Studies
What does it mean to think of freedom as a political question? In modern liberal democracies like the U.S., we often think freedom has to do with choice: whether a woman works or is a stay-at-home mother, whether a citizen votes for this or that candidate, they choose freely between two or more options and are hence “free.” Others, however, have suggested that choice, though important, is far from the only factor that ensures a politically free society: the ability to engage in social movements, civil disobedience, to actively and successfully shape one’s society through collective action, and to have one’s humanity recognized by those who oppress them are also crucial in ensuring that a person or a group is free in a political way. This course constitutes a study the evolution of the debates surrounding freedom as a political problem especially in their relation to democracy. We discuss theories of freedom through a varied collection of texts including social contract theorists like Thomas Hobbes, ancient Greek tragedies like Euripides’ Hecuba, radical democratic theorists, like Hannah Arendt, feminist theorists like Simone de Beauvoir, Black thinkers writing on slavery and liberation in the American context like Toni Morrison, as well as postcolonial thinkers like Franz Fanon. Overall, our goal will be to take up how different traditions of thought have taken up freedom as the fundamental question of democratic politics.
Cross-Listed: Political Science, Interdisciplinary Studies
What does it mean to think of freedom as a political question? In modern liberal democracies like the U.S., we often think freedom has to do with choice: whether a woman works or is a stay-at-home mother, whether a citizen votes for this or that candidate, they choose freely between two or more options and are hence “free.” Others, however, have suggested that choice, though important, is far from the only factor that ensures a politically free society: the ability to engage in social movements, civil disobedience, to actively and successfully shape one’s society through collective action, and to have one’s humanity recognized by those who oppress them are also crucial in ensuring that a person or a group is free in a political way. This course constitutes a study the evolution of the debates surrounding freedom as a political problem especially in their relation to democracy. We discuss theories of freedom through a varied collection of texts including social contract theorists like Thomas Hobbes, ancient Greek tragedies like Euripides’ Hecuba, radical democratic theorists, like Hannah Arendt, feminist theorists like Simone de Beauvoir, Black thinkers writing on slavery and liberation in the American context like Toni Morrison, as well as postcolonial thinkers like Franz Fanon. Overall, our goal will be to take up how different traditions of thought have taken up freedom as the fundamental question of democratic politics.
Theorizing the Politics of the Family (Winter 2022)
Cross-Listed: Political Science, Gender and Sexuality Studies
What does it mean to speak of “politics” of the family? What is the relationship between the family and the state? What role has the family, as an institution, played in reproducing and combating overlapping systems of oppression such as racism, patriarchy, and heteronormativity? Are concerns about the relationship between family, gender, and politics a “new” concern raised by liberal contemporary democracies? And if not, how have political theoretical engagement with the family evolved over time? In short, what does it mean to think of the family as a political question?
This course serves as an exploration of these questions, tracking the ways in which scholars, writers, and activists have attempted to make sense of family and kinship relations in their evolving relationship to politics. We will draw from texts by from a wide range of fields, including the political philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir and Carol Pateman, literary fiction by Aldous Huxley and Toni Morrison, legal scholarship like that of Dorothy Roberts, and manifestos penned by activist, to discuss the multiple debates that have attempted to think through the political implications of the family. In doing so, we will begin to theorize, question, and critique the work the family does in our society by thinking of family and relationships of kin as a political problem and as a site for both power and affection.
Cross-Listed: Political Science, Gender and Sexuality Studies
What does it mean to speak of “politics” of the family? What is the relationship between the family and the state? What role has the family, as an institution, played in reproducing and combating overlapping systems of oppression such as racism, patriarchy, and heteronormativity? Are concerns about the relationship between family, gender, and politics a “new” concern raised by liberal contemporary democracies? And if not, how have political theoretical engagement with the family evolved over time? In short, what does it mean to think of the family as a political question?
This course serves as an exploration of these questions, tracking the ways in which scholars, writers, and activists have attempted to make sense of family and kinship relations in their evolving relationship to politics. We will draw from texts by from a wide range of fields, including the political philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir and Carol Pateman, literary fiction by Aldous Huxley and Toni Morrison, legal scholarship like that of Dorothy Roberts, and manifestos penned by activist, to discuss the multiple debates that have attempted to think through the political implications of the family. In doing so, we will begin to theorize, question, and critique the work the family does in our society by thinking of family and relationships of kin as a political problem and as a site for both power and affection.
Classics of Social and Political Thought I: Ancient and Medieval Political Thought (Fall 2020)
Classics of Social and Political Thought (CSPT) invites students to participate in a year-long conversation about politics, philosophy, and human flourishing. During the Autumn quarter we will read and discuss works by classical, medieval, and early modern thinkers that have helped shape, if not set, the terms in which politics and society continue to be argued and imagined. We will discuss how ancient Greek works like Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Politics, and Sophocles' Antigone understood what it was to live in community with other people; how medieval christian thinker Thomas Aquinas combined politics and religion as discussed in the Summa Theologiae; and what Niccolò Machiavelli thought necessary for the success and stability of a polity as described in The Prince. The aims of this course are to wrestle deeply with the texts we are reading and to reflect on the varied forms and historical contexts in which their ideas about life in a political community are presented. We will work on both the central ideas each of the authors we will cover propose, as well the way in which they constructed their arguments. We will do this not only to gain insight about canonical works of the Western philosophical tradition but also to develop skills such as close reading and theoretical analysis of text.
Classics of Social and Political Thought (CSPT) invites students to participate in a year-long conversation about politics, philosophy, and human flourishing. During the Autumn quarter we will read and discuss works by classical, medieval, and early modern thinkers that have helped shape, if not set, the terms in which politics and society continue to be argued and imagined. We will discuss how ancient Greek works like Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Politics, and Sophocles' Antigone understood what it was to live in community with other people; how medieval christian thinker Thomas Aquinas combined politics and religion as discussed in the Summa Theologiae; and what Niccolò Machiavelli thought necessary for the success and stability of a polity as described in The Prince. The aims of this course are to wrestle deeply with the texts we are reading and to reflect on the varied forms and historical contexts in which their ideas about life in a political community are presented. We will work on both the central ideas each of the authors we will cover propose, as well the way in which they constructed their arguments. We will do this not only to gain insight about canonical works of the Western philosophical tradition but also to develop skills such as close reading and theoretical analysis of text.
T.A. Experience
Classics of Social and Political Thought I: Ancient and Medieval Political Thought (Fall 2019)
Classics of Social and Political Thought II: The Social Contract (Winter 2020)
Classics of Social and Political Thought III: Contemporary Political Thought (Spring 2020)
Classics of Social and Political Thought I: Ancient and Medieval Political Thought (Fall 2019)
Classics of Social and Political Thought II: The Social Contract (Winter 2020)
Classics of Social and Political Thought III: Contemporary Political Thought (Spring 2020)