My research sits at the intersection of political philosophy, American political thought, and African American political and moral philosophy. Across my work, I am centrally concerned with the ethical and characterological conditions that sustain democratic life—especially under conditions of inequality, domination, and political disillusionment.

One strand of this research engages the political philosophy of John Dewey, with particular attention to the moral, religious, and affective dimensions of democratic practice. Against interpretations that read Dewey primarily as a theorist of procedure or problem-solving, I emphasize his account of democracy as a way of life—one that depends on habits of character, modes of attention, and forms of moral commitment cultivated over time. This line of inquiry culminated in The Undiscovered Dewey: Religion, Morality, and the Ethos of Democracy, alongside an editorial project on The Public and Its Problems.

A second, closely related strand of my work turns to African American political thought as a distinctive resource for understanding democratic faith under conditions of exclusion and racial domination. Thinkers such as Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Anna Julia Cooper, and James Baldwin grappled with the paradox of sustaining allegiance to democratic ideals in a society that persistently denied their realization. I read this tradition not simply as a critique of American democracy, but as a sustained inquiry into the moral and spiritual capacities required to endure political alienation without surrendering democratic aspiration. These concerns are developed in The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Political Thought and in African American Political Thought: A Collected History (co-edited with Jack Turner).

Taken together, my research advances an account of democracy that foregrounds moral formation, democratic faith, and the burdens placed on character in moments of political fracture. Rather than treating democracy solely as an institutional arrangement or constitutional order, my work emphasizes democracy as a fragile ethical achievement—one that must be continuously cultivated, criticized, and renewed.

2022-2023 James W. C. Pennington Award, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg

Distinguished Visiting Scholar, John W. Kluge Center, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, Summer 2019

Safra Center Ethics Fellowship, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2015-2016: Declined

Consortium for Faculty Diversity at Liberal Arts College Fellowship: Visiting Assistant Professor, Swarthmore College, 2010-11

Sesquicentennial Fellowship, University of Virginia, Fall 2010-11 (42k)

University of Virginia Summer Grant, Summer, 2008, 2009

Amherst College Memorial Fellowship, 2001-2002; 2003-2004

Ford Predoctoral Fellowship, 1999-2002

Keasbey Memorial Foundation Scholarship, Cambridge, Selwyn College, 1999-2000

Ralph J. Bunche Fellowship, University of Virginia, Summer, 1998

I teach courses broadly in the history of political thought, American and African American political thought, and contemporary political theory. Courses currently teaching and scheduled to teach:

2019-2020

Fall

POLS1335: Slavery and Freedom: Selections from African American Political Thought (Undergraduate lecture)

POLS1820: Pragmatism In Black and White (Undergraduate Course)

Spring

POLS0110: Introduction to Political Theory

2017-2018

Fall

POLS 0820H: Race and Visions of Justice

Spring

POLS2340: Social and Political Philosophy of W. E. B. Du Bois (Grad. Course)