Research
Published Research
"The Subatomic Person: A New Ontology of Big Data" in Theory & Event (2022)
Abstract: Big data impacts us at an ontological level, developing a new idea of personhood, which I identify as the subatomic individual. This subatomic individual is created by the hegemony of big data and is distinct from the older, atomic form of individualism. Where the atomic individual represents the person as the smallest unit of analysis, the subatomic individual is broken into even smaller pieces. This subatomic individual is made up of individual pieces of information about our empirical selves that are then collected in massive databases and used to influence society. This has a depoliticizing impact, as big data strips the context from the subatomic person, leaving it in a perpetual present with no connection to the past nor hope of a transformative future.
Link to Article: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/867314
"Just Coups: A Reconsideration of Domestic Military Intervention" Forthcoming in the Journal of Military Ethics (2022)
Abstract: Are there situations where military coups can be considered justified, such as the overthrow of a collapsing, genocidal dictatorship? I argue that under certain circumstances there is an opening for “just coups.” I propose a theoretical assessment of coups based on an adaptation of just war theory. I bring the comparative literature surrounding civil-military relations into conversation with the literature on just war theory in order to develop a theory of just coups. By adapting the categories of just war theory into jus ad coup, jus in coup, and jus post coup, I show that these categories create a framework for understanding the ethical status of coups. Doing this gives us a more subtle understanding of the problem of coups and lets us understand how a hypothetical just coup may be possible
“I am an American”: The Political Consequences of Hank Morgan’s Lack of Identity; The Mark Twain Journal, Volume 52, Fall 2014
Link to Article
Why Political Scientists Should Embrace Multi-Method Grading
APSA Educate Blog
Link to Blog and Resources
"Here’s what Gandhi has to say to today’s protesters" Monkey Cage; Washington Post. 3/2/2017
www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/03/02/heres-what-gandhi-has-to-say-to-todays-protesters/
Abstract: Big data impacts us at an ontological level, developing a new idea of personhood, which I identify as the subatomic individual. This subatomic individual is created by the hegemony of big data and is distinct from the older, atomic form of individualism. Where the atomic individual represents the person as the smallest unit of analysis, the subatomic individual is broken into even smaller pieces. This subatomic individual is made up of individual pieces of information about our empirical selves that are then collected in massive databases and used to influence society. This has a depoliticizing impact, as big data strips the context from the subatomic person, leaving it in a perpetual present with no connection to the past nor hope of a transformative future.
Link to Article: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/867314
"Just Coups: A Reconsideration of Domestic Military Intervention" Forthcoming in the Journal of Military Ethics (2022)
Abstract: Are there situations where military coups can be considered justified, such as the overthrow of a collapsing, genocidal dictatorship? I argue that under certain circumstances there is an opening for “just coups.” I propose a theoretical assessment of coups based on an adaptation of just war theory. I bring the comparative literature surrounding civil-military relations into conversation with the literature on just war theory in order to develop a theory of just coups. By adapting the categories of just war theory into jus ad coup, jus in coup, and jus post coup, I show that these categories create a framework for understanding the ethical status of coups. Doing this gives us a more subtle understanding of the problem of coups and lets us understand how a hypothetical just coup may be possible
“I am an American”: The Political Consequences of Hank Morgan’s Lack of Identity; The Mark Twain Journal, Volume 52, Fall 2014
Link to Article
Why Political Scientists Should Embrace Multi-Method Grading
APSA Educate Blog
Link to Blog and Resources
"Here’s what Gandhi has to say to today’s protesters" Monkey Cage; Washington Post. 3/2/2017
www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/03/02/heres-what-gandhi-has-to-say-to-todays-protesters/
Research In Progress
The Age of Data: A New Critical Theory of Technology
Book Manuscript in Progress
“Doing” Political Theory in the Classroom
Chapter for Volume on Teaching and Research, under contract at Palgrave
Eds. Charity Butcher, Tavishi Bhasin, Elizabeth Gordon & Maia Hallward
An Ethnographic Study of Ungrading in Upper-Level Political Theory Courses
Under Review – Minor Revisions
“The Realities Facing Graduate Students: Before, During, and After the 2020 Covid Pandemic”
With: Pashayan, A. Ye, Huei-Jyun, Mueller, G., Willis, C.
Under Review
TechnoPlatonism: The Epistemology of Big Data
Ethics or Power: Reconsidering the Utility of AI Ethics
Data Dispossession: Against the Property Model of Data
The TechnoPessimists: Twain, Adorno and Mbembe on Technological Destruction
Book Manuscript in Progress
“Doing” Political Theory in the Classroom
Chapter for Volume on Teaching and Research, under contract at Palgrave
Eds. Charity Butcher, Tavishi Bhasin, Elizabeth Gordon & Maia Hallward
An Ethnographic Study of Ungrading in Upper-Level Political Theory Courses
Under Review – Minor Revisions
“The Realities Facing Graduate Students: Before, During, and After the 2020 Covid Pandemic”
With: Pashayan, A. Ye, Huei-Jyun, Mueller, G., Willis, C.
Under Review
TechnoPlatonism: The Epistemology of Big Data
Ethics or Power: Reconsidering the Utility of AI Ethics
Data Dispossession: Against the Property Model of Data
The TechnoPessimists: Twain, Adorno and Mbembe on Technological Destruction