Daniel Brinkerhoff Young

Daniel Brinkerhoff Young is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Union College, specializing in social and political philosophy, 19th-20th century continental philosophy, and anti-colonial/Africana philosophy. His research explores tensions between freedom and community in contexts of wage labor, gender hierarchies, and racial/national subordination.

• Education:
  • B.A., Cornell University (Summa cum laude)
  • M.Phil., University of Oxford (Rhodes Scholar)
  • Ph.D., New York University (2022)

His work synthesizes historical thinkers (Rousseau, Marx, Kierkegaard, Fanon) with 20th-century liberation movements to address social alienation. Current projects include a monograph, Made Into Strangers, reinterpreting Marxist alienation as structurally produced relational unfreedom.

Recent publications examine Kierkegaard's critique of imagination, Fanon's theory of racial alienation, and socio-cultural racialization beyond biological essentialism. His teaching emphasizes non-canonical political philosophy from liberation movements.

• Scientific Awards:
  • Rhodes Scholar

He has organized academic workshops and served in equity-focused roles at NYU and Oxford, including LGBTQ+ advocacy. Grants and collaborative research details are partially omitted here but expanded in the full description.