Desmond Jagmohan

Desmond Jagmohan is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in American Politics, Political Theory & Philosophy, and Race and Ethnic Politics. Born in Guyana and raised in Chicago after migrating at sixteen, he served in the U.S. military before pursuing academia. His research focuses on the politics of the oppressed, with particular attention to African American political thought under conditions of subjugation.

Dr. Jagmohan's research interests span the History of American and African American Political Thought, Race and American Political Development, History of Conservatism, Property, Slavery, and Nationalism, and Caribbean Political Thought. His work examines how marginalized communities navigate oppression through strategies that often require deception and concealment, as evidenced in his forthcoming book Dark Virtues: Booker T. Washington's Tragic Realism which analyzes Washington's politics of deception under Jim Crow.

His recent publications reveal a consistent focus on resistance strategies of the oppressed, with articles examining Harriet Jacobs, Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington, and theoretical frameworks for understanding racial oppression. His scholarship bridges historical analysis with contemporary political theory, particularly exploring how anger functions as a political emotion for oppressed communities.

• 2025 Social Science Distinguished Teaching Award at UC Berkeley
• Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Faculty Fellow at Princeton's University Center for Human Values (2022-23)
• National Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford (2018)
• APSA Best Dissertation Award from the Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section (2015)

Before joining Berkeley, Dr. Jagmohan taught at Princeton as Assistant Professor of Politics and held the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preceptorship. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University and his B.A. in Philosophy and History from Northeastern Illinois University. His teaching portfolio includes courses on the history of American and African American political thought, race and American political development, political culture, and a recurring seminar on resistance.