Juliet Hooker is a Nicaraguan-born political scientist who currently holds the Royce Family Professorship of Teaching Excellence in Political Science at Brown University. She is a political philosopher who focuses on racial justice, the theory of multiculturalism, and the political thought of the Americas.

Juliet Hooker
Hooker in a patterned blazer stands at a microphone speaking.
Juliet Hooker in 2018
NationalityNicaraguan
Alma mater
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions

Early life and education

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When Hooker was a girl, her family moved from the Afro-Caribbean coast of Nicaragua to its capital and largest city, Managua.[1]

Hooker obtained a BA in political science from Williams College in 1994.[2] She then studied government at Cornell University, earning an MA in 1998 and a PhD in 2001.[2] After receiving her PhD, she became a Rockefeller Post-Doctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin in 2001, and then a member of the faculty there in 2002.[2] She remained there until 2017, when she moved to Brown University.[2]

Career

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In addition to book chapters as well as journal articles in outlets like Political Theory[3] and the Journal of Latin American Studies,[4] Hooker has written three books: Race and the Politics of Solidarity (2009), Theorizing Race in the Americas: Douglass, Sarmiento, Du Bois, and Vasconcelos (2017), and Black Grief/White Grievance (2023). In Race and the Politics of Solidarity, Hooker argues that rhetoric of solidarity and multiculturalism can hinder both political theory and public policy in addressing racial injustice, specifically by obfuscating the way that racial hierarchies continue to be constructed and imposed on people.[5] The book uses Government of Nicaragua policies promoting multiculturalism as a case to argue that racial categories are unignorable in any theory of justice which can successfully challenge white supremacy.[5] The political scientist Bruce Baum wrote that Hooker "makes a valuable contribution to multicultural theory, critical race theory, democratic theory, and the study of Latin American politics" and that her most innovative contribution is "how she brings all of these literatures into a fruitful dialogue".[6]

Hooker's second book, Theorizing Race in the Americas: Douglass, Sarmiento, Du Bois, and Vasconcelos, was published in 2017. The book examines the political philosophy of Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, and José Vasconcelos, in order to study the political theory of race in the Americas.[7][8] The philosopher Andrea J. Pitts wrote that, "while the book itself offers a compelling set of analyses regarding race, national and pan-national identities, and democratic theory, it is Hooker's scope, methodological innovativeness, and theoretical complexity that make the work exceptional."[7] In a review of the work, political theorist Saladin Ambar wrote that it could be understood as part of a project by thinkers like Hooker, Michael Hanchard, Robin Kelley, and Pap Ndiaye to develop transnational theories of race informed by international political developments.[9]

For Theorizing Race in the Americas, Hooker received the American Political Science Association's 2018 Ralph J. Bunche Award, which is awarded each year to "the best scholarly work in political science that explores the phenomenon of ethnic and cultural pluralism".[10] The award committee wrote that the book is "beautifully written, theoretically rich, and methodologically innovative".[11]

Hooker has served in significant service positions in political science, including several committees of the American Political Science Association.[2][12] Hooker has also written for media outlets like The Chronicle of Higher Education[13] and the North American Congress on Latin America,[14] and she has been featured on the radio station KPFA[15] and the show White House Chronicle on WETA.[16] Her work has been cited or described in media outlets like The Washington Post,[17] the Atlanta Black Star,[18] and the Havana Times.[19]

Selected works

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  • "Indigenous Inclusion/Black Exclusion: Race, Ethnicity and Multicultural Citizenship in Latin America", Journal of Latin American Studies (2005)
  • Race and the Politics of Solidarity (2009)
  • Theorizing Race in the Americas: Douglass, Sarmiento, Du Bois, and Vasconcelos (2017)

Selected awards

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References

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  1. ^ Rodríguez Mega, Emiliano (13 December 2021). "How the mixed-race mestizo myth warped science in Latin America". Nature. 600 (7889): 374–378. Bibcode:2021Natur.600..374R. doi:10.1038/d41586-021-03622-z. S2CID 245188744.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Researchers@Brown: Juliet Hooker, Professor of Political Science". Brown University. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  3. ^ Hooker, Juliet (4 April 2016). "Black Lives Matter and the Paradoxes of U.S. Black Politics: From Democratic Sacrifice to Democratic Repair". Political Theory. 44 (4): 448⁠–469. doi:10.1177/0090591716640314. S2CID 147874563.
  4. ^ Hooker, Juliet (May 2005). "Indigenous Inclusion/Black Exclusion: Race, Ethnicity and Multicultural Citizenship in Latin America". Journal of Latin American Studies. 37 (2): 285⁠–310. doi:10.1017/S0022216X05009016. hdl:2152/6086. S2CID 21129378.
  5. ^ a b Da Costa, Alexandre Emboaba (2011). "Race and the Politics of Solidarity - Hooker, Juliet". Bulletin of Latin American Research. 30 (2): 243–244. doi:10.1111/j.1470-9856.2010.00515.x.
  6. ^ Baum, Bruce (April 2010). "Review Race and the Politics of Solidarity. By Juliet Hooker. (Oxford University Press, 2009.)". The Journal of Politics. 72 (2): 599⁠–599. doi:10.1017/S0022381609990983.
  7. ^ a b Pitts, Andrea J. (2018). "Review of Theorizing Race in the Americas: Douglass, Sarmiento, Du Bois, and Vasconcelos". Critical Philosophy of Race. 6 (1): 109⁠–119. doi:10.5325/critphilrace.6.1.0109.
  8. ^ "Juliet Hooker, Theorizing Race in the Americas". New Books Network. 28 August 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  9. ^ Ambar, Saladin (2018). "Book Review: Juliet Hooker. Theorizing Race in the Americas: Douglass, Sarmiento, Du Bois, and Vasconcelos. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. Pp ix+296. $53.00". American Political Thought. 7 (3): 535⁠–538. doi:10.1086/698489. S2CID 158421876.
  10. ^ a b "Ralph J. Bunche Award". American Political Science Association. 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  11. ^ "Juliet Hooker — 2018 Ralph J. Bunche Award Recipient". Political Science Now. 27 August 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  12. ^ "Governance committees". American Political Science Association. 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  13. ^ Hooker, Juliet; Tillery Jr., Alvin B. (3 April 2016). "What's Wrong With Inequality Studies?". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  14. ^ Bowen, Larnies A.; Legros, Ayanna; Paschel, Tianna; Mattos, Geísa; Cruz, Kleaver; Hooker, Juliet (20 March 2017). "A Hemispheric Approach to Contemporary Black Activism". North American Congress on Latin America. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  15. ^ "Frederick Douglass on Race and Democracy". KPFA. 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  16. ^ Zafar, Nina (15 February 2020). "What to watch this weekend: 'Duncanville' premieres on Fox". The Washington Post. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  17. ^ Ross, Janell (18 July 2016). "Who is David Clarke Jr.? And why are so many Republicans excited about this Democrat?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  18. ^ Nittle, Nadra (30 July 2017). "How Afro-Nicaraguans Suffer Through the 'Taboo' Subject of Racism". Atlanta Black Star. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  19. ^ Vilchez, Danae (25 July 2017). "Juliet Hooker: "People Don't Imagine that a Nicaraguan could be Black"". Havana Times. Retrieved 15 February 2020.