Hakeem Jefferson / Political Theory Workshop

Hakeem Jefferson is an assistant professor of political science at Stanford University where he is also a faculty affiliate with the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and the Stanford Center for American Democracy. He received his PhD in political science from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and African American Studies from the University of South Carolina. He is a proud product of underresourced public schools in Sumter, South Carolina, and grew up in Gable, South Carolina—an experience that taught him more about power and privilege than any college course ever could.

As a researcher, he is concerned chiefly with questions related to identity and the multi-faceted ways that identity structures all aspects of our social and political lives. He is particularly interested in the politics of stigmatized groups, and my scholarly efforts have focused primarily on understanding diversity in the politics of Black Americans.

The Political Theory Workshop offers faculty and other scholars an opportunity to present "in progress" or recently completed work to a diverse audience from political science, philosophy, law, and other social sciences and humanities. Workshop papers come from all areas of political theory, including normative and positive theory, legal theory, and the history of political thought. Papers are circulated ten days before the seminar. Participants are expected to read the paper before the workshop. Each session begins with comments and questions on the paper by a discussant, a brief response from the author, followed by a general discussion.