Courses I’ve Taught
Political Theory and Philosophy
Political Science
Research Design
Hegel and Marx
Teaching Fellow for Peter Gordon
Harvard University
Foundations of Political Theory
Teaching Fellow for Eric Beerbohm
Harvard University
French Social Thought: Durkheim to Foucault
Teaching Fellow for Peter Gordon
Harvard University
Teaching Fellow for Peter Gordon
Harvard University
Foundations of Political Theory
Teaching Fellow for Eric Beerbohm
Harvard University
French Social Thought: Durkheim to Foucault
Teaching Fellow for Peter Gordon
Harvard University
Introduction to Comparative Politics
Teaching Fellow for Steve Levitsky
Harvard University
Res Publica: A History of Representative Government
Teaching Fellow for Dan Carpenter
Harvard University
Teaching Fellow for Steve Levitsky
Harvard University
Res Publica: A History of Representative Government
Teaching Fellow for Dan Carpenter
Harvard University
Undergraduate Thesis Writers’ Workshop
Lead Instructor
Harvard University
Lead Instructor
Harvard University
Courses I’ve Designed
This is a political theory course which considers the higher education debates in the United States within the last 50 years. Across the semester, we reflect on the purpose of the university and its role in American society. The first part of the course provides a brief overview of major debates, canonical philosophical texts, and a survey of the actual structure of 21st century American universities. The second part of the course surveys different schools of thought on the purpose of the university, exploring university imaginaries from the walled garden to the democratic seminary. Each week, we will consider arguments in defense of these ideals alongside reflections on the struggle to fulfill these ideals, and critiques of the ideal itself. The third part of the course situates broader debates about university funding, admissions, and scholarly expertise in the material and historical conditions of the university itself, including university governance, labor, local community relations, and universities’ own histories. This course helps students think beyond partisan discourse on the university, contending that debates about the purpose of higher education better capture critiques and defenses of the institution—and that these do not map easily onto any political party. Along the way, our inquiry develops the critical interdisciplinary thinking and reading skills which are core to political theory.
Are citizens responsible for the crimes of their nation? What or who do you owe if you benefit from class privilege? Our lives are embedded in formal institutions and informal systems which often have unjust outcomes. Even if we recognize the injustice of systems we inhabit, we are often the participants and beneficiaries of these systems which precede us. When is this injustice? How do we reproduce unjust structures? Are we responsible for their unjust outcomes? What are we obligated to do, societally and individually, to alleviate structural injustice? If our choices are shaped by these unjust systems in the first place, what can we do to reform them? In this course, we grapple with these questions in turn, drawing on political theory, philosophy, and activist texts. Throughout the semester, students will conduct independent research into a contemporary social movement or group which makes claims about structural injustice. The final assignment is a dossier on this social movement which puts the movement in conversation with course texts—analyzing activists’ claims of structural injustice, their account of its causes, and the kinds of demands they make for its restitution of resolution.
What is political freedom? How does capitalism reproduce itself? How can a body be political? Is sex about power? Feminist philosophy offers new perspectives on traditional topics of political theory, such as the state, the family, and labor. But it also expands the terrain of political theory to ask new questions about the politics of identity, sexuality, and the body. This survey course weaves through key academic touchstones in feminist thought as well as pamphlets, manifestos, and magazine articles which reflect the rich history of feminist thinking within and beyond the academy. In this course, we’ll explore how feminist thought helps us not only understand the specific political lives of women, but also feminism’s rich contributions to political theory more broadly. This course aims to understand the varied contributions and disagreements within feminist thought while remaining alive to critiques of different forms of feminism.
Advising
Departmental Writing Fellow
Government Department
Harvard University
Government Department
Harvard University
Concentration Advisor
Government Department
Harvard University
Government Department
Harvard University
Undergraduate Thesis Supervision:
Government Thesis on Political Theory
Government and Romance Languages Joint Thesis
Government and Classics Joint Thesis
Harvard University
Government Thesis on Political Theory
Government and Romance Languages Joint Thesis
Government and Classics Joint Thesis
Harvard University