Robert Watkins

Robert E. Watkins, Ph.D. is a Professor of Political Science and Cultural Studies at Columbia College Chicago, where he teaches courses in political theory, international relations, and cultural studies in the Liberal Education Department. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and his B.A. in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore . In terms of research, he is interested in the role of culture as contingent foundation in politics, and topics on which he has written include: the political ontology of vulnerability in the thought of Judith Butler, Edmund Burke and Isaiah Berlin's responses to cultural difference with sympathy, the resonance between Michel Foucault's concept of productive power and Edmund Burke's account of culture and tradition. He has presented numerous papers at the annual meetings of the American Political Science Association, the Western Political Science Association, and the Midwest Political Science Association. Dr. Watkins has published in the journal Political Theory and in an edited volume on the political theory of Judith Butler (forthcoming from Routledge). He is currently developing a book from his doctoral dissertation concerning the constitutive role of culture, norms, and power in politics that draws on the political theory of David Hume and Edmund Burke to illuminate the contemporary politics of culture, difference, and affect.

Dr. Watkins lives in Rogers Park.  When he is not in the classroom or with his nose is in a book, Rob enjoys movies, music, travel, and fine food and spirits.