Lillie Padilla is an Assistant Professor of Spanish Linguistics at Sam Houston State University's Department of World Languages and Cultures. Holding a Ph.D. and M.A. in Spanish Linguistics from Arizona State University alongside a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Ghana, her research explores interdisciplinary connections between: Afro-Latinx representation in educational materials Discourse analysis and language ideologies Sociolinguistic studies in Equatorial Guinea Critical race theory applications in language teaching Her work focuses on Spanish subject pronoun expression patterns in multilingual contexts and curriculum development for inclusive pedagogy. Recent publications examine: Representation gaps in Spanish language textbooks Methodological challenges in Equatorial Guinea research Critical discourse analysis of Netflix's Elite series Intersectional representation of Afro-Latinx women Scientific achievements include: Finalist for American Association of Linguistics 2025 award for co-edited volume Representation, Inclusion and Social Justice in World Language Teaching Padilla's research continues to shape conversations about linguistic diversity and marginalized voices in language education through both empirical studies and theoretical frameworks.
Sasha Su-Ling Welland is Chair & Professor in Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington, with an adjunct role in Anthropology and affiliation in China Studies. She holds a PhD (2006) and MA (1998) in Anthropology from UC Santa Cruz, and a BA (1991) in Ethnic Studies from Stanford University. Her research focuses on transnational visual culture, women of color, ecocriticism, and post-socialist gender dynamics. Current work explores embodied ecologies, nuclear colonialism, and racial capitalism in the Anthropocene. Welland’s scholarship bridges art, ethnography, and public scholarship. Her book Experimental Beijing (2018) won major prizes for its analysis of gender in Chinese contemporary art. Recent research intertwines military/medical histories with environmental justice in St. Louis. She curates feminist art exhibits in Asia and serves on the Journal of Visual Culture editorial board. Her awards include the 2019 Francis L.K. Hsu Book Prize and 2020 Joseph Levenson Prize. She advises graduate students and leads lab teams investigating transnational feminisms and environmental humanities. Resources include her CV and online office hours via the department’s website.
Haiyan Lee serves as the Walter A. Haas Professor of the Humanities and Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures and of Comparative Literature at Stanford University. She has held these positions since joining Stanford in 2009, and currently serves as Chair of the East Asian Languages and Cultures department (2020-present). Her academic journey includes previous teaching appointments at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Hong Kong, along with post-doctoral fellowships at Cornell University and Harvard University. Lee's research spans multiple interdisciplinary fields with particular focus on modern Chinese literature and cultural production. Her work bridges literary studies with law, philosophy, cognitive science, affect theory, gender studies, and environmental humanities. She has developed influential theoretical frameworks including the concept of "high justice" and "low justice" in Chinese legal imagination. Her current research explores animism, cognition, and the Chinese environmental imagination, extending her longstanding interest in human-animal relations. Lee's publications reveal a consistent trajectory examining Chinese cultural production through innovative theoretical lenses. Her recent work shows increasing engagement with legal theory, environmental humanities, and cognitive approaches to literature. She has produced significant scholarship on Chinese concepts of justice, love, and the stranger, moving across historical periods from early 20th century to contemporary China. Biennial Book Prize, Honorable Mention, International Society for Chinese Law and History (ISCLH) (2024) Humanities Seed Grant, Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences (2023-2025) Bass Fellowship in Undergraduate Education, Stanford University (2022-2027) Joseph Levenson Book Prize, The Association for Asian Studies (2009) Professor Lee actively mentors doctoral students across multiple disciplines, serving as dissertation advisor, co-advisor, and committee member for students working at the intersection of Chinese studies, law, literature, and cultural theory. Her teaching includes courses across East Asian humanities, comparative literature, and interdisciplinary environmental studies. She has received significant research support including the Frederick Burkhardt Residential Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies and a residency at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.
James A. Robinson is a University Professor at the University of Chicago with joint appointments in the Harris School of Public Policy and Department of Political Science. An economist and political scientist, he conducts influential research on political and economic development, examining how political power, institutions, and prosperity interact through both quantitative economic modeling and qualitative fieldwork methodologies. Robinson's research focuses on institutional analysis and political economy, with deep regional expertise in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. He has conducted extensive fieldwork across Bolivia, Colombia, Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, investigating how historical institutions shape contemporary economic outcomes. His interdisciplinary approach integrates economic theory with anthropological and historical case studies to explain patterns of economic divergence and political stability. Recent publications (2023-2025) reveal persistent themes in institutional persistence, state-society dynamics, and the cultural foundations of development. His work increasingly examines the interaction of economic and political inequality, the role of non-institutional factors in leadership strategies, and the historical roots of peripheral development trajectories across diverse global contexts. Scientific recognition includes: 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel Fellow, Institute of African Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka Robinson co-authored three seminal books with Daron Acemoglu: Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (theoretical foundations of regime stability), Why Nations Fail (translated into 41 languages, arguing inclusive institutions drive prosperity), and The Narrow Corridor (analyzing state-society struggles for liberty). He maintained a 28-year summer school at Colombia's University of the Andes (1994-2022) and continues active research collaborations across Africa and Latin America.
Matthew Potolsky is Professor of English at the University of Utah, specializing in nineteenth-century literature and literary theory. His career spans from 1998 Lecturer at Harvard University to current University Professorship. He earned a BA in Comparative Literature and Philosophy (1990), followed by MA and PhD in Comparative Literature (1992, 1997) from UC Irvine. Chair of English Department (2013-2016) University Professor (2014-2016) Research focuses on Decadence , Mimesis , Finance-Aesthetics intersections , and Government Secrecy . His work traces connections between financialization and decadent aesthetics, revealing how economic cycles influence artistic production. Key themes include: Decadent anti-realist literary movements Finance capital's cultural impact Decadent counterpublic formations Victorian aesthetic education debates Sublime aesthetics in national security Cosmopolitanism in literary communities Recent publications analyze: Decadent style as financialization rhetoric Reintroduction of verisimilitude theory Decadent responses to financial crises Mimetic labor in artistic production Decadent cosmopolitan counterpublics Historical parallels between financialization and literary decadence
Ramsey McGlazer is an Associate Professor specializing in twentieth-century European and Latin American literature, film, and critical theory. His research engages with poetry, politics-aesthetics intersections, critical carceral studies, and feminist/queer/psychoanalytic frameworks. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Critical Theory from UC Berkeley (2015) and previously taught at the University of St Andrews and Brown University’s Pembroke Center. McGlazer’s work interrogates modernist critiques of progress, radical psychiatry movements, and the interplay between aesthetic practices and institutional critique. His acclaimed monograph Old Schools: Modernism, Education, and the Critique of Progress (2020) won the American Association for Italian Studies First Book Prize. Current projects include The Clinic and its Double , exploring mid-century radical psychiatry and avant-garde art. He serves as Senior Editor of Critical Times and Coeditor of Italian Culture , and has translated key works like Rita Segato’s The War Against Women . McGlazer’s writing appears in venues such as Los Angeles Review of Books and n+1 . Research interests span Surrealist provocations, Brazilian artist Lygia Clark’s propositions, and transnational feminist solidarities. His scholarship bridges literary analysis with critical engagements in carceral studies, postcolonial theory, and decolonial thought.
David Glovsky serves as Assistant Professor of History and African and African American Studies within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, focusing on 19th-20th century West Africa with regional expertise in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea. His research examines borderlands through lenses of mobility, citizenship, and alternative geographies, challenging state-imposed borders with community-driven spatial narratives. His educational foundation includes a B.A. in History and Human Geography from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. in African History from Michigan State University. Prior academic appointments include the Department of Africana Studies at University at Albany and the Department of History at Boston University, following Peace Corps service in southern Senegal that redirected his career from sports media into academia. Glovsky's research program centers on social justice-oriented historical narratives of marginalized West African communities, particularly Fulbe populations. His work synthesizes oral histories and archival research across six nations to analyze how borderland residents construct fluid geographies that transcend colonial/postcolonial boundaries. Key themes include migration as resistance , gendered border experiences , and Islam's role in transnational community formation , with methodological innovation in spatial history and decolonial approaches. Analysis of his nine recent publications (2019-2023) reveals consistent engagement with West African borderland resilience , demonstrating how communities maintain cross-border networks despite state fragmentation. His work bridges historical scholarship and contemporary migration debates , employing interdisciplinary frameworks from anthropology, geography, and postcolonial theory to document alternative spatial organizations that challenge Western cartographic traditions. ACLS Fellowship supporting book project Borderlanders: Popular Geographies, Mobility, and Belonging in West Africa Glovsky actively mentors graduate students interested in African history, emphasizing pathways for underrepresented scholars into U.S. academia. His research has received competitive external funding including the ACLS Fellowship, while his collaborative work on the NEH ‘Ajamī Project advanced accessibility of Pulaar manuscripts through digitization and multilingual translation. He maintains strong community ties with West African scholars and institutions, particularly in Senegambia. Though not leading a formal laboratory, Glovsky collaborates with international research teams across West Africa on borderland studies and manuscript preservation, working closely with scholars in Kolda (Senegal), Dakar, and Guinea-Bissau to document community histories through participatory methodologies.
Harsha Ram is an Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on Russian and European Enlightenment, modernist literature, and the cultural histories of the Caucasus region. He holds dual B.A. Honors degrees in Italian and Russian from the University of Sydney and University of New South Wales, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Yale University. His work bridges literary theory, post-colonial studies, and geopoetics, with a particular emphasis on Georgia's literary modernism and its intersections with Russian imperial culture. Key themes include spatial theory, peripheral modernisms, and the transnational dimensions of cultural production. Recent work examines the role of ritual feasts in Georgian national identity and the geopoetics of Eurasian avant-garde movements. Ram has published extensively on figures like Velimir Khlebnikov and Boris Pasternak, exploring their engagement with imperial legacies and revolutionary aesthetics. His book The Imperial Sublime: A Russian Poetics of Empire (2003) remains a seminal study of Russian imperial poetics. Current projects include studies on Georgian literary encounters with Russian culture and the symbolic dimensions of Caucasus representations. His scholarship frequently appears in leading journals such as Modernism/Modernity , Slavic Review , and Ab Imperio . He has held visiting positions at institutions globally and actively participates in interdisciplinary dialogues between literary studies, history, and cultural geography.
Norman M. Naimark serves as the Robert & Florence McDonnell Professor of East European Studies and Professor of History at Stanford University, with courtesy appointments in German Studies. He holds senior fellowships at both the Hoover Institution and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and is affiliated with The Europe Center and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. Education: Ph.D. in History, Stanford University (1972) Naimark specializes in Soviet-era Eastern European history, with dual research pillars: Soviet policies in post-WWII Europe and 20th-century genocide/ethnic cleansing phenomena. His work bridges historical analysis with contemporary human rights discourse, emphasizing geopolitical power dynamics and systematic violence against civilian populations. Methodologically, he combines archival rigor with comparative frameworks across national contexts. His publication trajectory from 1979–2019 reveals evolving focus from Marxist movements in partitioned Poland to Soviet occupation mechanics, culminating in comprehensive genocide studies. The 2019 monograph on Stalin's postwar European sovereignty struggles synthesizes decades of research into Soviet imperial practices. Scientific awards: Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1996) Richard W. Lyman Award for outstanding faculty volunteer service (1995) Stanford Dean's Teaching Award (1991-92, 2002-3) Naimark's academic leadership includes directing Stanford's Global Studies Division, Bing Overseas Studies Program, and Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. His research informs current policy discussions on authoritarianism and democratic resilience, as evidenced by recent engagements with Belarusian democracy movements and U.S.-Russia relations. He collaborates extensively through Stanford's interdisciplinary centers, particularly contributing historical perspectives to The Europe Center's sovereignty research and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law's governance initiatives.
Salikoko S. Mufwene is the Edward Carson Waller Distinguished Service Professor of Linguistics at the University of Chicago. He holds additional appointments on the Committees on Evolutionary Biology, Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science, and African Studies. His research integrates ecological perspectives into evolutionary linguistics, focusing on language contact, creole genesis, language endangerment, and the impact of colonization and globalization on linguistic diversity. Education: PhD in Linguistics, University of Chicago (1979) Key Themes: Language evolution, creole languages, population structure, decolonial linguistics, language policy Mufwene’s work emphasizes the role of population dynamics in language change, drawing parallels with biological evolution. His recent articles examine topics such as the cultural-artifact nature of language, the ecological drivers of creole hybridization, and the decolonization of linguistic paradigms. He has also contributed extensively to debates on language endangerment and multilingualism in super-diverse societies. Scientific Awards: Fellow, Linguistic Society of America (2018) Fellow, American Philosophical Society (2022) Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2023) Collège de France lectures (2003, 2023-24) Summer Institute of the Linguistic Society of America (1999, 2005, 2015, 2017)
Charles Athanasopoulos is an Assistant Professor of African American and African Studies & English at The Ohio State University. His research focuses on intersections of Black rhetorics, media, and culture, with expertise in The Black Radical Tradition, Rhetorical Theory, and Cultural Critique. He earned his Ph.D. in Rhetoric & Communication from the University of Pittsburgh. His work analyzes racial progress, public symbols, and post/Ferguson America through lenses of iconoclasm and critical race theory. Education: Ph.D., Rhetoric & Communication, University of Pittsburgh. Research interests span Black American and Diasporic Cinema, Afro-Caribbean and Greek-Roma identity critiques. He has published in venues like Lateral: The Journal of the Cultural Studies Association and Western Journal of Communication. His 2024 book Black Iconoclasm explores dismantling racial symbols in public discourse. Recent articles address Fanonian thought, anti-racist campus rhetoric, and transnational Blackness studies. His publications critically engage with visual activism, film analysis, and decolonial theories. Current projects include studies on sonic rhetorics in Black women’s music and global race discourses in Mediterranean contexts.
Marisol De La Cadena is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Davis, with affiliations in Science and Technology Studies (STS). Her work bridges anthropology, political theory, and environmental thought, focusing on ontological divergence and multispecies relations in Latin America, particularly in Peru and Colombia. Department: Department of Anthropology School: College of Letters and Science University: University of California, Davis Email: mdelac@ucdavis.edu Office: Young Hall 315 Her research centers on the intersection of modern politics and non-modern or ahistorical ontologies, especially through what she calls "ontological openings." Drawing from deep ethnographic engagement with Quechua-speaking interlocutors in the Andes, she explores how earth-beings, humans, and nonhumans co-constitute worlds that exceed Western categories. Her theoretical contributions challenge conventional boundaries between nature and culture, history and timelessness, and politics and cosmology. Her recent fieldwork in Colombia examines human-cow relations on cattle ranches and in veterinary schools, situating these practices within broader ecological crises and post-conflict transitions. Her publications reveal a consistent interest in how ethnographic concepts function as both empirical observations and theoretical tools. The body of her work, including key articles like "Uncommoning Nature" and "Runa: Human but not only," reflects a deep commitment to rethinking anthropological method and theory. Her research trends emphasize ontological politics, multispecies ethnography, and the decolonization of knowledge, contributing significantly to contemporary debates in STS and anthropology. Her scientific honors include: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow (2008) Lewis H. Morgan Lecture Series Invited Speaker, University of Rochester (2011) Invited Researcher, Center for Advanced Studies, Norwegian Academy of Sciences (2015) Guest Speaker, Mellon-Sawyer Seminar, University of Cape Town (2010) She has been principal investigator on several major grants, including the John E. Sawyer Mellon-Sawyer Seminar on the Comparative Study of Cultures (2012–2016), a Wenner-Gren Conference Support Grant (2009–2010), and multiple research fellowships from the Guggenheim, Wenner-Gren, and American Philosophical Societies. These grants have enabled collaborative, transdisciplinary research on cosmopolitics, indigeneity, and the anthropology of worlds. She is affiliated with research initiatives such as the Sawyer Seminar on the Comparative Study of Cultures and contributes to global academic networks in anthropology and STS. Her work fosters dialogue between indigenous thought, continental philosophy, and ethnographic practice, creating spaces for alternative modes of knowing and being.
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.
Jamella Gow is the Rasuli Lewis Assistant Professor of Sociology at Bowdoin College, where she teaches courses on race and ethnicity, Black culture and activism, migration, policing, borders, and globalization. She is affiliated with the Department of Sociology and actively contributes to interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of Black Studies and migration studies. Her research centers on how race, Blackness, and immigration intersect for Black Caribbean migrants in the United States, particularly Haitians, Jamaicans, and Afro-Cubans in South Florida. She investigates the dynamics of racial and ethnic identity, inclusion/exclusion, diasporic politics, and the criminalization of Black migrants under U.S. immigration policy. Her work critically engages anti-Blackness, differential Blackness, and transnational solidarity. Her recent publications include a co-edited volume titled Modern Migrations, Black Interrogations: Revisioning Migrants and Mobilities through the Critique of Anti-Blackness (Temple University Press, 2024), and journal articles in Sociology of Race and Ethnicity , Ethnic and Racial Studies , and Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies . Her publications reflect a consistent focus on racialization, diaspora, and the socio-political marginalization of Black migrants. She frequently presents her research at major academic conferences such as the American Sociological Association and the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Jamella Gow has not been mentioned as receiving specific scientific awards in the provided text. However, her scholarly impact is evident through her publications and invited presentations. She advises and mentors students in sociology and related fields, though no named advisees are listed. Her research is collaborative, involving partnerships with scholars across institutions and community-based projects, such as her work with the Carrefour-Feuilles community in Haiti. She has also contributed to public scholarship through newsletters and book reviews. Her work is grounded in critical sociological theory and qualitative methods, and she is currently developing a book manuscript titled Black Migrants from Black Nations: Race, Blackness, and Immigrant Exclusion , which promises to make a significant contribution to the understanding of how racial, ethnic, and national statuses shape the lived experiences of Black immigrants.
Peter C. Caldwell is the Samuel G. McCann Professor of History at Rice University and Director of the Program in Politics, Law, and Social Thought. He specializes in modern European history with a focus on Germany, constitutionalism, welfare state development, and political thought. His research spans Weimar Republic legal crises, postwar West Germany, and 19th/20th-century intellectual movements. Education: PhD (1993), MA (1989), and BA (1987) from Cornell University, New York University. Awards include the George R. Brown Award for Teaching (2016) and Humboldt Fellowship. He has authored/co-authored major works like Democracy, Capitalism, and the Welfare State (2019) and Germany Since 1945 (2018, 2023 revision). Teaching focuses on European political history, comparative welfare states, and 19th-century political thought. Current research examines democratic rhetoric in contemporary Mexican politics and authoritarian constitutionalism. Advised over a dozen undergraduate theses on topics ranging from Weimar Republic legal theory to Cold War historiography. Publications span German constitutional history, Cold War dynamics, and East German politics. His work bridges legal, economic, and cultural dimensions of modern European history with interdisciplinary approaches to political theory.
