Before coming to Southwestern, Dr. Howard studied at Emory University (MA and PhD) and Vassar College (BA). Her work in political theory draws on a multidisciplinary background in philosophy, feminist studies, political science, affect studies, and Arabic language and culture studies. 

My earlier research focused on the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt, especially how her theory of action relates to the discussion of ‘statelessness’ in The Origins of Totalitarianism, which concerns the rights of refugees in the 20^th century European context. I have also studied how emotion appears in Arendt’s work, and more broadly, the role of emotion in contemporary theories of political action. My current research involves feminist and decolonial theories of affect, epistemology, and the body, especially as these contribute to political questions about community and resistance. I am currently at work on a book project that offers a political genealogy of envy as a function and effect of injustice, as well as a mode of affective resistance to injustice. I explore this historical, cultural dynamic with examples that include the early-modern witch hunts, anticolonial struggles, and contemporary consumerism.  

Recent publications: 

“The Apparitions of Emotion: Toward a Performative Affect-Theory of Assembly,” Raisons Politiques 76, no. 4 (2019).

“Feminist Political Philosophy,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (co-authored with Noëlle McAfee), 2018. <https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-political/>

“The ‘Right to Have Rights’ 65 Years Later: Justice Beyond Humanitarianism, Politics Beyond Sovereignty,” Global Justice: Theory, Practice, Rhetoric 10, no. 1 (2017): 79-98.