Welcome back to the 255! We hope that you are all having a wonderful transition into official autumn. To celebrate our seasonal change, we wanted to bring to you our new #FacultyFeature series. Each post will encapsulate the work of one of our awesome HUMSOC faculty. This week we’ll highlight the recent work of Professor Jessica Blatt!

Professor Blatt is an Associate Professor of Political Science here at MMC. Dr. Blatt’s work focuses on American political thought, specifically how ideas of difference such as race, gender, class, etc, interact with political discourse and public policy. Blatt is the author of Race and the Making of American Political Science (University of Pennsylvania Press 2018). At MMC, she teaches many courses relating to social and political theory, race, and American political development.

The Always Already Podcast, a podcast that holds conversations about critical theory, featured Professor Blatt in a conversation around race in relation to American political science. Always Already Podcast has two consistent segments that discuss critical theory in their words “in the broadest read of the term!” The two segments are (1) discussions of texts around critical theory, political theory, social theory, and philosophy; and (2) Epistemic Unruliness that consists of interviews and conversations with activists, artists, and academics.

Throughout the podcast interview, Always Already Podcast question many aspects of American political thought and its relations to race. The podcast explicitly raises the questions: What was political science’s role in shaping a de-radicalizing ‘race relations’ paradigm? How did the early discipline of political science turn to categories of ‘race’ in a bid for foundation funding and claims to scientific knowledge? And, what are the pedagogical implications for political scientists today of the book and of this genealogy of racism in the discipline? Check out Professor Blatt’s interview in the link below as well as her book Race in the Making of American Political Science.

• Always Already Podcast Interview — here
• Race in the Making of American Political Science — here

Thanks to Professor Blatt for sharing with us her work. We highly recommend that you all check it out. Join us soon for our next segment on the #FacultyFeature. And as always, a quick reminder to be kind, stay safe, and get to know your teachers!