Megan Sweeney is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of English, Afroamerican and African Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan. Her research examines African American literature, reading practices in carceral settings, and autotheory through works like Reading Is My Window and the lyric essay collection Mendings . Her scholarship has been supported by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Ford Foundation, and Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Sweeney received the university's highest teaching awards including the 2021 John D'Arms Award for graduate mentoring and 2014 Thurnau Professorship. She serves as Director of Graduate Studies in English and Interim Editorial Director for Feminist Studies .
John Vanderhoef serves as Assistant Professor of Film, Television, and Media within the Communications Department at California State University, Dominguez Hills' College of Arts & Humanities. Currently on academic leave for the 2025-2026 year, he maintains an active research profile centered on contemporary media production. His educational foundation includes: Ph.D. in Film and Media Studies (University of California, Santa Barbara) M.A. in Communication (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) B.A. in Communication (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) Professor Vanderhoef's research critically examines media industries through the dual lenses of digital labor and identity politics . His scholarship exposes tensions between corporate structures and creative autonomy, particularly in indie media spaces where romanticized notions of 'passion work' often mask exploitative conditions. His groundbreaking book Passion, Pixels, and Profit establishes him as a leading voice in video game production studies, revealing how neoliberal economics reshapes creative labor in digital entertainment. His teaching portfolio bridges theoretical rigor with practical application through courses like Media Industries and Emerging Media Production. While specific grant details aren't public, his sustained publication record in top-tier journals and university press monographs demonstrates robust research momentum. Students interested in media production cultures should reconnect after his 2025-2026 leave concludes.
Kathleen R. McNamara is Professor of Government and Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where she also co-founded the Global Political Economy Project with Professor Abe Newman. Her work centers on the European Union, globalization, and the cultural and political foundations of market authority. Her research interests include the political economy of the European Union, monetary politics, culture and identity in global markets, institutional change, and the democratic legitimacy of supranational governance. She examines how ideas, norms, and collective identities shape economic integration and state formation, especially in Europe. Her recent publications (2020–2024) reveal a strong focus on the EU’s geopolitical turn, industrial policy transformation, the impact of crises like COVID-19 on globalization, and the interplay between democracy and populism. These works reflect a deep engagement with both theoretical and policy-relevant dimensions of contemporary European and global political economy. International Studies Association 2018 Distinguished Scholar in International Political Economy ISA 2020 SWIPE Award for Mentoring Women in International Political Economy German Marshall Fund Fellow Fulbright Fellow Simone Veil Fellow at the European University Institute (2023) McNamara has been a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation, taught at Princeton University and Sciences Po (Paris), and advised the US National Intelligence Council. She is active in public scholarship, writing for Foreign Affairs , Foreign Policy , and The Washington Post . She is a founding figure in the Global Political Economy Project, which aims to reframe the study of global markets through interdisciplinary and critical lenses.
Inés Valdez is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University's Krieger School of Arts & Sciences. Her research bridges critical race and feminist theory with analyses of migration, transnationalism, empire, and racial capitalism. She has held fellowships from the Humboldt Stiftung, Global Arts & Humanities Society of Fellows, and the Princeton University Center for Human Values. Her 2023 book Democracy and Empire rethinks popular sovereignty through the Black radical tradition, winning the T.V. Paul Best Book Award. Earlier work includes Transnational Cosmopolitanism (2019), which redefines cosmopolitanism through global structures of domination. Her scholarship critiques empire's entanglement with democratic systems, emphasizing ecological responsibility and transnational solidarity. Recent publications explore anti-imperial sovereignty, Du Bois's ecological critiques, and Latinx political thought. She has contributed to journals like Contemporary Political Theory and Review of Politics , and her blog post Undoing Empire's Hold on Democracy (2024) addresses contemporary political crises. Valdez co-authored influential articles on migration politics and Kantian philosophy's racial dimensions. Her work integrates political theory with anticolonial praxis, advocating for transformative frameworks that challenge global hierarchies. She advises on transnational solidarity strategies and serves as a leading voice in decolonial and critical race studies.
Dr. Michael R. Griffiths is a Senior Lecturer in English Literatures at the University of Wollongong, where he has been teaching since 2014. He serves as the Internationalisation Director in the School of the Arts, English and Media, managing global collaborations including UOW's campuses in Hong Kong and Dubai. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University's Institute for Comparative Literature and Society from 2012-2014. His educational background includes: PhD in English from Rice University (2012) Griffiths's research focuses on postcolonial literary theory, settler colonial studies, and Indigenous literatures, with a growing emphasis on decolonial thought. His work critically examines representations of Aboriginal people and culture in Australian literature, the politics of authorship in anticolonial thought, and intersections between critical animal studies and ecocriticism. In his scholarship, Griffiths explores how literature engages with questions of identity, difference, and belonging in settler colonial contexts, often challenging conventional approaches to cultural appropriation and representation. His recent publications demonstrate a clear trajectory toward examining the intersections between poststructuralist literary theory and anticolonial thought. The publication of his 2025 book The Death of the Author and Anticolonial Thought represents a significant contribution to understanding how thinkers like Edward Said and Édouard Glissant responded to Roland Barthes's "death of the author" thesis. His earlier work, particularly his 2018 monograph The Distribution of Settlement: Appropriation and Refusal in Australian Literature and Culture , established him as a scholar examining representations of Aboriginal people by non-Indigenous writers in Australian literature. Griffiths serves as Chair of the South Pacific Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (SPACLALS) and is on the editorial advisory board of Australian Literary Studies . He has also co-edited special issues of Continuum on freedom of speech debates, which received notable attention and was reprinted as a book titled Unsettled Voices . As a supervisor, Griffiths has mentored numerous PhD and Master's students through projects examining diverse topics including Indigenous Trinidadian theatre, hauntings in Chinese-Australian literature, and cosmopolitanism in Indian English fiction. His grant history shows consistent funding support for research on Australian literature, settler colonial studies, and international academic collaborations, particularly with Wuhan University in China. Griffiths contributes to several research networks focused on postcolonial studies and settler colonialism, including the South Pacific Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies, which he chairs, and maintains active engagement with global scholarly conversations through his academic profiles and social media presence.
Adam King is an Assistant Professor in the Labour Studies Program at the Faculty of Arts, University of Manitoba. His research focuses on labor regulation, employment standards enforcement, Indigenous labor dynamics, deindustrialization impacts, and labor market policy. He co-investigates a SSHRC Partnership Grant project on migrant labor in settler-colonial contexts. Education: PhD in Sociology (York University, 2019) MA in History (University of Toronto, 2011) BA in Sociology/History (Trent University, 2010) His research examines the political economy of labor regulation, including enforcement mechanisms in federally regulated sectors and contested Indigenous labor relations. He analyzes deindustrialization's social consequences and contributes to debates on job guarantee proposals and right-wing populism's influence on labor movements. Recent publications explore topics like Indigenous labor law frameworks, precarious creative workers' unionization, and gendered identities in deindustrializing communities. He actively engages with media outlets such as CBC, The Globe and Mail, and The Maple's 'Class Struggle' newsletter.
Angelika Sjöstedt serves as Professor and Chair of Gender Studies within the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Mid Sweden University. Her academic leadership spans teaching across Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD programs in Gender Studies and Sociology, while actively contributing to institutional discourse through roles such as delivering the 2024 academic celebration lecture. She maintains significant engagement with contemporary academic freedom debates, notably co-organizing the 2024 seminar series addressing responsible internationalization amid the Gaza conflict. Her research profile reveals deep expertise in intersectional analysis of gender, settler colonialism, and labor precarity, particularly examining how chronic crises manifest in peripheralized regions. Recent work demonstrates acute responsiveness to geopolitical emergencies, with 2024 publications directly confronting academic complicity in genocide. Her methodological approach bridges ethnographic rigor with activist scholarship, evident in long-term collaborations like the Båskoes Sámi research network and Forum for Gender Research. Sjöstedt's scholarly trajectory shows consistent thematic development from early work on flexible knowledge-work subjectivity (2012) through nuanced examinations of rural resilience (2017-2020) to current urgent interventions in academic freedom. Her publications reveal distinctive geographic focus on Norrland's inland regions while maintaining transnational theoretical relevance, particularly regarding mining resistance movements and crisis management frameworks. The 2021-2024 output demonstrates accelerated engagement with acute political emergencies, signaling scholarly adaptation to escalating global crises. Professional networks constitute a critical dimension of her work, with sustained involvement in the Forum for Gender Research since at least 2015 and leadership in the Båskoes network advancing Indigenous research methodologies. Her editorial work on critical anthologies like Aktivism: En antologi om arbete för social och politisk förändring (2022) demonstrates commitment to bridging academic and activist knowledge production.
Tithi Bhattacharya is a Full Professor in the Department of History at Purdue University. She holds a PhD from the University of London and is renowned for her work in South Asian history, Transnational Gender, Colonialism, and Global History. Bhattacharya is the author of influential books including Ghostly Past, Capitalist Presence (Duke, 2024) and The Sentinels of Culture (Oxford, 2005), and co-author of the widely translated Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto (Verso, 2019). Her educational background includes a PhD from the University of London. This foundational training has equipped her to critically engage with colonial and postcolonial histories, Marxist theory, and feminist praxis. Bhattacharya's research interests span Social Reproduction Theory, Marxist feminism, and the intersections of class, gender, and colonialism. She examines how capitalism relies on the social reproduction of labor, particularly through gendered and racialized exploitation. Her work also addresses Islamophobia and the politics of fear in colonial and contemporary contexts, as seen in her book Ghostly Past, Capitalist Presence . Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on Social Reproduction Theory as a framework for understanding global capitalism and feminist resistance. Her articles frequently address the BRICS nations, anti-colonial movements, and the development of a feminism that centers the 99%. The multilingual nature of her work (appearing in over 30 languages) underscores its international impact. While specific scientific awards are not mentioned in the provided text, Bhattacharya's work has been published in prestigious journals such as the Journal of Asian Studies and South Asia Research , and she serves on the editorial boards of Studies on Asia and Spectre . Information regarding her advising of students and grant activities is not provided in the current text. Similarly, details about labs or research teams are absent.
Deval Desai serves as Reader in International Economic Law at the University of Edinburgh's Edinburgh Law School, a position he has held since 2020 after serving as Lecturer from 2020-2023. His academic career includes research positions at Harvard Law School and the Geneva Graduate Institute. Dr. Desai also brings extensive practical experience from a decade working with the World Bank on rule of law and governance in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as advising the United Nations on rule of law issues. Dr. Desai's educational background includes an MA in History and French Literature from Oxford University, followed by legal training at City University/BPP Law School (PGDipL and PGDipLP), and advanced law degrees (LLM and SJD) from Harvard Law School. At Harvard, he held prestigious fellowships including the Byse Fellowship, Program on Negotiation Next Generation Fellowship, and Institute for Global Law and Policy Fellowship. MA (Oxon), History and French Literature PGDipL, PGDipLP, City University/BPP Law School LLM, Harvard Law School SJD, Harvard Law School Dr. Desai's research centers on law and development, administrative law and regulation, theories of the state, and patterns of knowledge and authority across the Global North and South. His work examines institutional reform processes, particularly how expertise and knowledge operate within rule of law initiatives. His interdisciplinary approach draws from legal and social theory, development studies, international relations, and performance studies, as evidenced in his monograph Expert Ignorance (Cambridge University Press). His recent work focuses on fiscal sociology, administrative law in the Global South, and the politics of social welfare provision. Dr. Desai's publications span leading journals in law, political science, and development studies, revealing a consistent focus on the intersections between legal institutions, governance, and development. His work demonstrates increasing engagement with comparative methodologies and critical perspectives on knowledge production in global governance. Recent articles show particular attention to fiscal policy, welfare systems, and responses to global crises like the Covid-19 pandemic, with comparative studies between India and European contexts. Dame Muriel Spark Medal (2024, Royal Society of Edinburgh) Chancellor's 'Rising Star' Award (2023, University of Edinburgh) Member of the Young Academy of Scotland Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts Fellow of the Young Academy of Europe Dr. Desai has secured significant research funding from diverse international sources, including a £2.1 million Swiss National Science Foundation Sinergia grant titled 'Reversing the Gaze: Towards Post-Comparative Area Studies' where he serves as PI. He also leads projects funded by the British Academy, University of Edinburgh's Big Ideas Accelerator, Scottish Funding Council, and Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office. His commitment to mentoring is evident through his recognition with the Susan Manning Award for Inspiring Mentor and his leadership in establishing programs like the Global Scholars' Academy at the Geneva Graduate Institute and the Global Justice summer school at CEU. As editor-in-chief of the Cambridge University Press book series 'Elements in Legal Theory and the Global South' and serving on multiple editorial boards, Dr. Desai plays a significant role in shaping scholarly discourse. His current research projects examine 'loss' in legal institutions guiding transitional processes, constitutional implications of fiscal arrangements in fragile contexts, and social welfare provision in India and Italy.
Reade Davis is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Nipissing University's Faculty of Arts and Science, specializing in environmental anthropology and political economy. Research examines: Fisheries management and aquaculture conflicts Neoliberal impacts on small-scale fisheries Protected area conservation politics Risk construction and commodity chains Historical memory in Eastern North America Publications critically analyze marine conservation in Newfoundland, industrial aquaculture resistance, and the socioeconomic effects of gambling in rural communities. His work employs ethnographic methods to document how coastal communities navigate environmental policy changes and economic restructuring. Regional expertise covers Newfoundland and Labrador and Eastern Ontario. Education includes: PhD and MA, Memorial University BA(Hons) and BA, Queen's University
Elizabeth Bernstein is a Professor of Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies and Professor of Sociology at Barnard College, Columbia University, where she has been a faculty member since September 2002. Her work bridges sociological theory with feminist analysis, focusing on the intersections of gender, sexuality, and political economy. Bernstein directs significant research initiatives including the Gender Justice and Neoliberal Transformations Working Group, a transnational collaboration among thirteen scholars examining gender justice in contemporary global contexts. She is currently developing a new book project titled "Imagining Immunity: Precarious Bodies and the Governance of Gendered Dis-ease," which explores immunological metaphors in understanding bodily risk and suffering. B.A., University of California, Berkeley M.A., University of California, Berkeley Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley Professor Bernstein's research focuses on the political economy of the body, gender, and sexuality, with particular attention to sexual commerce, sex trafficking, and neoliberal governance. Her work employs ethnographic methods to examine how intimate relations become sites of economic exchange and political regulation. She investigates how concepts of authenticity, freedom, and rights are mobilized in debates about sexual commerce and trafficking. Bernstein's scholarship critically engages with feminist theory, carceral politics, and transnational governance frameworks, challenging conventional approaches to sex work and trafficking that often reinforce punitive systems rather than advancing gender justice. Analysis of Bernstein's scholarly output reveals a consistent trajectory examining the intersections of gender, sexuality, and political economy within neoliberal frameworks. Her work demonstrates increasing attention to transnational governance mechanisms and their impact on intimate relations and bodily autonomy. A notable trend is her critical examination of how anti-trafficking campaigns often employ carceral logic that undermines feminist goals of gender justice. Her scholarship consistently challenges binary frameworks that position sex work solely as exploitation or liberation, instead analyzing the complex economic, political, and social dynamics that shape sexual commerce globally. Bernstein's research has received significant recognition through prestigious awards including: Distinguished Book Award, American Sociological Association, Sociology of Sexualities Section (2020) for "Brokered Subjects" Honorable Mention, Society for the Study of Social Problems Global Division Book Award (2019) Norbert Elias Prize, Norbert Elias Foundation (2009) Distinguished Book Award, American Sociological Association, Sex and Gender Section (2009) Her work has also been supported by major funding organizations including the Institute for Advanced Study, National Science Foundation, Social Science Research Council, AAUW, and Mellon Foundation. As a principal investigator along with Janet Jakobsen for the Gender Justice and Neoliberal Transformations Working Group, Bernstein leads a significant collaborative research initiative sponsored by the Barnard Center for Research on Women. Her grant portfolio demonstrates sustained support from major research institutions, reflecting the significance of her work in gender studies and sociology. While specific student advisees aren't listed in the available materials, her role as a full professor at Barnard College indicates extensive mentorship of undergraduate and likely graduate students in Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies and Sociology. Bernstein co-leads the Gender Justice and Neoliberal Transformations Working Group, a collaboration among thirteen scholars working transnationally on questions of gender justice. This initiative represents a significant research collective examining how neoliberal policies reshape gender relations globally. Her work with the Barnard Center for Research on Women provides institutional support for this transnational feminist research network, facilitating scholarly exchange and collaborative publication projects that advance critical perspectives on gender, sexuality, and political economy.
Timothy Bewes is the Owen F. Walker Professor of Humanities and Professor of English at Brown University , where he has taught since 2004. His research bridges contemporary fiction , poststructuralist theory , Marxist literary analysis , and postcolonial studies , with a focus on the politics and ethics of literary form . He has held fellowships at the Pembroke Center and Cogut Institute for the Humanities , and co-edits the Film-Thinking series. Education : DPhil and MA from University of Sussex , BA from University of North London . Bewes' scholarship interrogates the ontological status of fiction and the materiality of literary works , as seen in his National Book Critics Circle Award-winning book Free Indirect: The Novel in a Postfictional Age (2022). His recent articles explore intersections between novel theory , Black studies , and Deleuzean philosophy , emphasizing repetition , dialogicality , and anti-representational frameworks . Notable awards include the L. S. Dembo Prize (2015) and Chesler-Mallow Senior Faculty Research Fellowship (2012-13). He teaches courses such as The Terrible Century , Capitalism & its Metamorphoses , and Bakhtin and the Political Present .
Stefan Kipfer is a Professor at the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change , York University. He coordinates the Cities, Regions, Planning program and holds a PhD in Political Science from York University. His research focuses on the intersections of spatial organization, social order, and political rule, with particular emphasis on urban politics, racial capitalism, and anti-colonial theory. Education: PhD in Political Science, York University MES in Urban Political Economy and Ecological Politics, York University BA in Political Science and French, York University Kipfer's research spans transnational urban studies, critical theory, and radical political ecology. He explores: Urban social movements in Zurich, Toronto, and Paris State interventions in public housing, transit, and environmental policy The capitalist and racialized dimensions of urbanization Right-wing populism and neo-fascism Connections between Henri Lefebvre, Frantz Fanon, and Antonio Gramsci Recent work analyzes: Urbanization as neocolonial process Anti-racist and decolonial spatial strategies Transit justice and free public services Comparative urban governance Resistances to far-right regimes Articulation theory and political strategy He supervises graduate students in Environmental Studies, Geography, and Political Science, and has contributed to critical urban theory through publications linking Marxist, anti-colonial, and feminist frameworks.
Kyle Bellucci Johanson serves as a Visiting Critic in Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Department of Art. Holding an MFA from California Institute of the Arts and a BA in Art and Reconciliation Studies from Bethel University, he merges artistic practice with critical theory through performance architecture and collaborative media. Whitney Independent Study Program (2022–23) Founding fellow at land's edge free school (Los Angeles) Teaching experience at SAIC, UIC, CUNY, and Cooper Union His research investigates: Power structures through spatial interventions Critical theory applications in art practice Post-capitalist imaginaries Hauntology and historical materialism Transdisciplinary approaches to social critique Project trends reveal: Reinterpretation of Soviet design principles Investigation of worker identity in post-industrial contexts Temporal and spatial dislocation in artistic practice Monument critique through performative methods Quantum theory-inspired architectural concepts Reimagining of common spaces as political sites Scientific awards include: Creative Research Grant (2025) Whitney ISP participation (2022–23) Automata Studio Residency (2022) Artists Run Chicago Grant (2021) BOLT Residency (2020–21) Through projects like KLUB WRKR —a nomadic workers' club reimagined for the gig economy—and table (2018–2022), a Chicago-based experimental space for artistic practice, he interrogates institutional frameworks while fostering community through discursive meals and collaborative exhibitions.
Felicity McArdle is a Professor in the Department of Early Childhood Education within the Faculty of Education at Queensland University of Technology. With a distinguished career spanning over two decades, her work centers on reimagining early childhood pedagogy through critical lenses of social justice, art education, and play-based learning. Her research has significantly influenced Australian early childhood policy and practice. McArdle's research interests demonstrate a consistent commitment to transformative education. She critically examines how art and play function as vehicles for social justice, challenging neoliberal discourses in early childhood education. Her work on refugee children's artistic expression and anti-bias curriculum development reveals her dedication to equity-oriented pedagogy. Through collaborative drawing methodologies and visual research approaches, she has pioneered innovative ways of understanding children's perspectives. Her publication trends reveal a sophisticated evolution from foundational work on visual arts in education (2001-2010) toward increasingly critical examinations of power, policy, and social justice (2011-2021). The consistent citation impact of her work—particularly her 2002 paper 'Early Childhood Art Education: A Palimpsest' with over 13,000 citations—demonstrates her field-defining contributions to reconceptualizing art education as critical praxis. McArdle has held significant editorial roles including co-editing the influential 2013 volume 'Young Children, Pedagogy and the Arts' and serving on the editorial board of Australian Journal of Early Childhood. Her collaborations with leading scholars like Susan Grieshaber, Jennifer Sumsion, and Linda Knight have produced seminal work on intentional teaching and play-based learning. Her research methodology expertise centers on visual and arts-based approaches, particularly collaborative drawing techniques that engage children as active research participants. This methodological innovation reflects her commitment to ethical research practices that honor children's agency while generating meaningful insights about early childhood experiences.
