Jodi Dean

Jodi Dean is a Professor of Politics at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY, and an affiliated faculty member at the European Graduate School/EGS and Erasmus University Rotterdam. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Columbia University, focusing on political theory, and has held fellowships at institutions including Birkbeck, Cardiff, and the Institute for the Human Sciences in Vienna. Her work bridges feminist theory, critical theory, media studies, and communist political philosophy.

Dean's research emphasizes critiques of neoliberalism, communicative capitalism, and the resurgence of communist theory as a radical political horizon. She has authored ten books, including seminal works like The Communist Horizon and Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies, which argue for communism as a necessary response to contemporary social structures. Her recent work addresses neofeudalism and imperialism.

As an active editor, Dean co-edited the journal Theory & Event (2008–2013) and the Pluto Press series Digital Barricades (2013–2020). She also co-edited Organize, Fight, Win (2022), a collection of writings by Black Communist women. Her articles appear in venues like Los Angeles Review of Books and Jacobin.

Dean’s intellectual trajectory includes engagements with thinkers like Habermas, Žižek, and Hardt/Negri. She is currently exploring imperialism’s intersections with contemporary political economy and radical organizing strategies.