The Political Theory Workshop brings together four core theory events featuring Hopkins’ graduate students and faculty and combines them with external theory speakers speaking at the Political Science Department Symposium, the Seminar on Political and Moral Thought, and other occasional series.  

Across these events, political theory faculty and graduate students and a broader inter-subfield/inter-disciplinary group engage collegially with cutting-edge research and sustain critical conversations that enrich the subfield’s communal and intellectual life.  

Please see below for the current program and an archive of previous speakers. You can find forthcoming events updated information on the events calendar. We hope to see many of you there!

Fall 2023

Jennifer Nedelsky (University of Toronto)^∞ “Communities of Care, Relations of
Freedom, the Freedom-Necessity Dichotomy”
When/Where: Tuesday September 19, noon; tba 

Jonny Thakkar (Swarthmore College)^† “Institutions and Idealism” 
When/Where: Monday September 25, 4.30pm; Gilman 308 

Conor Bean (Johns Hopkins) “Population-Public: A Missed Encounter Between Biopolitics and the Public Sphere” 
Discussant: Cécile Cadet (Johns Hopkins) 
When/Where: Tuesday October 10, noon; Macaulay 101 

PJ Brendese (Johns Hopkins) 
Book launch and discussion of Segregated Time (OUP, 2023)
Discussant: tba  
When/Where: Tuesday October 24, noon; Macaulay 101 

Kevin Duong (University of Virginia)* “Psychotherapy for the People: Harlem’s Lafargue Clinic, 1946-1958”
When/Where: Thursday November 9, noon; Mergenthaler 366  

Nidesh Lawtoo (Leiden)^• “Homo Mimeticus: A New Theory of Imitation” 
When/Where: Wednesday November 15, 4pm; Gilman 208 

Bill Connolly’s Retirement Symposium “Theory in Bold Strokes”^# 
– Bonnie Honig (Brown University), Nov. 16, 4.30pm, Great Hall 
– Bill Connolly (Johns Hopkins), Nov. 17, 4.30pm, Great Hall 

Spring 2024

David Temin (University of Michigan)* “Wages for Earthwork: An Anticolonial Framework for Climate Justice” 
When/Where: Thursday March 7, noon; Mergenthaler 366 

Inés Valdez (Johns Hopkins) 
Book launch and discussion of Democracy and Empire: Labor, Nature, and the Reproduction of Capitalism (CUP, 2023) 
Discussant: Fred Lee (University of Connecticut) 
When/Where: Tuesday March 26, noon; Macaulay 101 

Ashley Kim (Johns Hopkins) “Kant’s Analogia Communis” 
Discussant: Conor Bean (Johns Hopkins) 
When/Where: Tuesday April 2, noon; Macaulay 101 

Jill Frank (Cornell University)^† [Title tbd]
When/Where: Monday April 15, 4.30pm; tbd 

Erin Pineda (Smith College)^ [Title tbd] 
When/Where: Thursday April 25, noon; Mergenthaler 366 

^∞ Co-sponsored with the Constitution Day Event 
† Co-sponsored with the Seminar on Political and Moral Thought
* Co-sponsored with the Political Science Department Symposium
^• Co-sponsored with the department of Comparative Thought and Literatures 
^ Co-sponsored with Agora Institute 
^# Co-sponsored with the Dean’s Office, the Humanities Institute, and the departments of Political Science, Anthropology, and Sociology.