Political Theory Colloquium

The Political Theory Colloquium brings together UVA faculty and graduate students to discuss new and in-progress work in political theory. Visitors are drawn from UVA’s faculty and beyond, and they reflect the wide range of work being done in the field. Regular participation in the colloquium is an important component of the subfield’s professionalization and graduate training, and should be a priority for all students. The colloquium also welcomes everyone who is interested in political theory and cognate fields. Papers are distributed in advance, and participants come prepared to discuss them.
Preliminary abstracts for each paper that is being presented are available below. Paper drafts will be circulated 7–10 days before the talk via e-mail. Participants of the colloquium are responsible making themselves familiar with the circulated draft prior to the beginning of the talk. Each speaker will introduce their work with a few brief remarks. Then, an assigned discussant (in most cases, graduate students in our Department) will raise a few preliminary talking points about the draft. After the speaker responds to those comments, anyone in attendance may raise their hand and ask questions about the paper.
Please contact Hyunsoo Kwon or Diego Tapia Riquelme if you would like to be added to the email distribution list for papers, if you require any accommodations to participate in the speaker series, or if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.
Unless otherwise noted, the colloquium meets 2:00-3:30pm Eastern time.
Current Series
2024-2025

The Specter of Statelessness

Down with Grand Narratives! Humor, Sense, and Nonsense at the Gezi Protests

Decentralization ≠ Democracy: The Organization of Power & the Future of Social Media

Publics and Policing: Spies, Surveillance, and Colonial Subjects in Interwar Paris.

Creative Paranoia and Radical Democracy: the politics of SNNC and SDS

Foundational Territories: Trans-national Territories for Complex Resource System Management

Imperfect Victims: Feminism and the Problem of Legible Resistance

Writing Our Own Ends? Ethnographic Ethics for the Endangered

No Humans Involved: The Erasure of Earthwork in Historical and Contemporary Environmentalisms
