University Level Teaching Experience
Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez Santiago de Chile y Viña del Mar
2012 Universidad Católica de Chile
2010, 11 Universidad Diego Portales
2011 Historia Occidental de Pensamiento Político
Confrontaciones entre el Poder y la Justicia en la esfera política
Problemas del Poder
Politica Contemporánea
Columbia College, Chicago, IL
Fall 2009: Politics, Government, Society
Northwestern University, School of Continuing Studies
Fall 2009: History of Political Thought
Fall 2008: Ancient Political Thought
Winter 2008: Introduction to International Relations
Summer 2007: Law in the Political Arena
Kansas State University
Summer 2008: History of Political Thought
Northwestern University Teaching Assistant
Courses: Methods of Political Inquiry, History of Political Thought, World Systems, Law in
the Political Arena, Introduction to Roman Civilization, Trial Advocacy, Law and Society
Education
PhD 2010 Political Science, Northwestern University
Dissertation: Mimesis in Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan
Legal Studies Graduate Assistantship 2008-2009
Paris Program in Critical Theory Participant 2007, 2008
Fellow, Insitut d’Études Polítiques de Paris 2007-2008 Exchange with Sciences-Po, Paris, France
Chateaubriand Award to do dissertation research in Paris, France 2006-2007
University Scholar Award 2006-2007
French Interdisciplinary Group award to study French in Montpellier 2003
Masters in Science by Research, Politics, 2001, University of Edinburgh
Thesis: Hannah Arendt on Kant’s Critique of Judgement
BA 2000 Ohio University Honors Tutorial College, Philosophy
Study Abroad: Universidad de Navarre, Pamplona, Spain
Conference and Special Events Experience
- Ciclo de Seminarios, Debates Biopolíticas Contemporáneas, 2 Nov. 2010 “El lugar de Hobbes en la crítica Biopolítica del Neoliberalismo: ¿Quién decide lo que significa ‘salvar la propia vida’?”
- IX Congreso Chileno de Ciencia Política 11, 12, 13 Nov. 2010 “La teoría de dios en el Leviatán de Thomas Hobbes: más cerca a Roma o Jerusalem?”
- Nietzsche and the Future of Life Santiago, Chile November 2-4, 2009 “The Politics of Culture and Civilization in Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan”
- Bible and Political Theory Conference, Northwestern University, March 2009 “The Sovereign’s Personation of God in Leviathan”
- Northwestern University Political Theory Colloquia, Jan. 09 Respondent Dana Villa “Genealogies of Total Domination: Adorno, Arendt, and Auschwitz”
- Queen’s University, Belfast, Quest, Perspectives on Power, March, 2007. “Hobbes’s ‘perspicuity’ clearly related to Foucault’s ‘effective truth.’”
- Western Political Science Association, Politics and Luck: Thinking about Government and the State in an Uncertain World Las Vegas, NV March, 2007
- “Hobbes’s emplotment of Leviathan according to the techniques outlined in Aristotle’s Poetics”.
- McGill University, Colloque de la Recherche Étudiante en Sciences Politique, Les Facettes du Pouvoir Montreal, Canada, May 2007.
- “Returning to Leviathan after Foucault: A genealogy of the Automaton as a symbol of constituent power”.
Teaching Statement: I am here to inspire people to read the text in its original, and if that is too hard, find out which are the scholarly exegesis that help make sense of the text. Having such a broad title is clearly a gadfly move.
What I am looking for: I am wondering if the scholarly commentaries that I got from university libraries are accessible online, and to what extent. I am worried that the intensity of production demanded by web content has resulted in the circulation of bad summaries, or not the most canonical commentaries. So, what is left behind paywalls or what kind of credentials do I need to get access to articles in Jstor or like academic databases.
Why now?: Writing a blog about something this serious did not cross my mind whatsoever. We found power points embarrassing and only put text on them. This was a tactile preference thing. I also enjoyed photocopied pages I could mark on. I took notes in a paper notebook in cursive on my favorite texts. This blog is embarrassing to the extent it continues to be undone and I have zero desire to promote it due to its incompleteness and flaws. Nevertheless, it almost feels ethically wrong to say nothing at all when I spent two decades reading others reflections questions of justice, power, authority and law that keep arising.
But now we have had heard the political activation of various well known myths through astounding events such as the grace that saved President Trump from assassination.
There is some sort of question about the curriculums of great schools. What kind of history of political thought education would you get if you went to Northwestern, for example. I can share the syllabi I created partially influenced by that environment.
Young people do not go to libraries for the books and artifacts and I want to inspire them to do so, by running into moments where the best articles I’m sure will be behind paywalls. To show the benefit of having access to reading the scholarship of the ages that may not be in the search results.
I want to re read all these books. I am not at risk for firing, because I do not have an academic job. If I did want an academic job at an institution, they would certainly have to vet if what I would be teaching would meet their high standards.
There was an assassination of a person who was speaking about political questions in a public setting, on a university campus. University campuses are very dear to me since I enjoyed my own intellectual growth by hanging around many of them. For a campus to be a dangerous place for someone to talk about politics, this is just unacceptable.
While I disagreed with basically everything that person was probably going to say, and didn’t enjoy anything about his style, I would still defend his ability to practice public debate.
People want to think and debate about crucial political questions. How can we zoom out to the most philosophical approach? What can we learn from the tradition that we all share? In terms of the history of political thought, what does it mean to be conservative, where are the boundaries of philosophy vs science, philosophy vs political science, and how can we aim for justice in a world of power dynamics?
I have a point of view on Leo Strauss I’m developing, I’m working my dissertation into a better shape because I was unable to zoom out at the time. This medium demands matching word and image, or choosing images with significance for each of the texts.
I need to contextualize my dad’s work for my niece and nephew so they can figure out what he was doing in France in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Finally, I’m preparing to review some books I’m interested in, but I want to practice reading and writing around the tradition first.
With the current projects I’m trying to think about things I have seen and places I have been in the world and what questions I have about them. So I can think through what was going on in Dysart Woods, in the Chilean Judiciary, and the expertise profession of real estate.
Based in Williamstown, West Virginia, USA. Presbyterian