Paul Martorelli
Lecturer in Political Science
Paul Martorelli received his Ph.D. in Political Science with a Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory at the University of California, Berkeley. His primary focus is political theory.
Paul Martorelli received his Ph.D. in Political Science with a Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory at the University of California, Berkeley. His primary focus is political theory, which he integrates with Critical Theory, queer theory, and feminist theory. His dissertation “Mobilization and Its Discontents: Identity Politics in the Age of Identity Critique” examines how subordinated identity groups can organize for political change on their own behalf while avoiding self-descriptions that exclude or marginalize some of their members. The dissertation describes and critiques the kinds of injurious effects that can result when normative identities are constituted in and through collective political action; drawing on thinkers such as Crenshaw, Habermas, Warner, and Wittgenstein, the dissertation goes on to offer a set of political languages and practices vis-à-vis normativity and identity that could avoid such effects.
Education
- B.A., University of San Francisco
- M.A., University of California-Berkeley
- Ph.D., University of California-Berkeley
Current and upcoming courses
Canons of Political Thought
POL4216
Let’s face it: the “classic” or “canonical” authors in political theory are typically white, male, cis, heterosexual, and rich. Because of this, the canon of political theory has erased the ideas of people of color, women, queer people, and others on concepts such as justice, freedom, and equality. Odds are, these ideas are substantially different than the ones that have become the standards in political science and mainstream politics. This course explores the origins and imports of these other canons, these other classics. We will begin by carefully reading a canonical thinker, such as John Locke or John Stuart Mill, to understand their theorization of concepts such as justice, freedom, equality, and politics. Then we will examine and analyze works on the same topics by Black, women, and queer authors to compare, contrast, and critique the hegemonic perspective. We aren’t trying to justify the canon. Nor are we interested in simply dismantling it. Rather, we’re expanding and multiplying canons to help us confront political problems in an intersectional world. Authors may include Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Stanton, Frances Harper, and the Combahee River Collective.
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Human Rights
POL4318
Human rights are an important issue in countries around the world and in international politics. But what are human rights? Is there a universal definition, or do human rights vary across time and space? Who decides when human rights are violated? When is outside action to stop such violations justified? These questions aren’t just philosophical; they’re deeply political. How political communities answer them shapes domestic and international policies on issues such as state violence, humanitarian aid, citizenship and migration, (neo)colonialism, global capital, and efforts of various kinds to promote human freedom. This course will use texts in contemporary political theory and historical and contemporary case studies to explore the intuitively important, yet vaguely understood, concept of human rights. Case studies will examine human rights in the United States (for example, interrogation torture policy, Black Lives Matter, or sanctuary cities) and the international context (for example, the Holocaust, ethnic cleansing during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, or the 2003 invasion of Iraq). (PEAC 318 and POL4 318 are cross-listed courses.)