B.A. Swarthmore College
M.A. Yale University

Ph.D. Yale University

Courses:

Modern Political Theory
The Politics of Citizenship
Theories of Civil Society

Recent Publications:

"Neither Seen Nor Heard: Children's Citizenship in Democracies, "
(forthcoming Citizenship Studies).

Research Interests:

Contemporary and Modern Political Theory
History of Political Thought
Immigration
Citizenship

Current Research Projects:

My dissertation, "The Myth of Full Citizenship", challenges the idea that liberal democratic citizenship is or has ever been unitary. I argue that, rather than dividing the world into citizens and non-citizens, liberal states have always engaged in the creation of what I term "semi-citizenships". Citizenship is a label superimposed over a set of memberships that do not easily lend themselves to unitary categorization. Rather, citizens experience citizenship as a continuum upon which they alight at various points during their lives. To illustrate my theoretical claims I use four case studies of significant semi-citizen groups: children, resident aliens, gays and lesbians, and convicted felons.
In addition to my own research, I have recently begun work on a second project with several of my fellow Maxwell School colleagues that looks at how various institutional actors in U.S. politics interact with new immigrants to facilitate (or perhaps inhibit) their political incorporation. We are looking at the changing roles of political parties, NGOs, interest groups and other organizations in the processes and institutions that integrate immigrants into American citizenship.