Stefan Dolgert

I am a democratic theorist who studies the nature of political inclusion and exclusion, both in the history of political thought as well as in the construction of our contemporary institutions. I am interested in such questions as: how do we decide the boundaries of the political community? Who gets to be counted in the “we,” how are exclusions from the political community justified, and what means do we possess to amend our institutions and practices to broaden our concept of who counts as a citizen? I am interested in how race, gender, class, disability, nationality, and species have been used to disqualify the speech of excluded groups, and how these legacies of silence continue to bedevil our contemporary polity.

I frequently teach ancient Greek political theory (sometimes in dialogue with classical Chinese philosophy) in both introductory and advanced courses, though I also commonly teach classes in democratic theory, American political thought, posthumanism, and modern political theory. I am interested in graduate MRP supervision over a wide range of fields, including democratic theory, ancient Greek political theory, the history of political thought, critical animal studies, political ecology, posthumanism, science and technology studies, social justice, bioethics, disability studies, critical race theory, postcolonialism, theories of international relations, feminist theory, and political theology.