About
ARCHANA KAKU is a political scientist who studies the the interactions between the body, violence, and power. Her research examines how accounting for the materiality of the body changes the terrain of politics, making it possible to ask and answer new kinds of questions. She works at the intersections of decolonial theory, gender and queer theory, and biopolitics.
Dr. Kaku is an Assistant Professor of Government at the College of William & Mary, where she teaches classes in Political Theory focused on bringing critical lenses to contemporary political life and conflicts. Previously, she was a Consortium for Faculty Diversity Postdoctoral Fellow with the Muhlenberg College Political Science Department, where she also contributed to the Women & Gender Studies, Africana Studies, and International Studies programs. Dr. Kaku is working on a book project focused on the ways that bodily destruction is harnessed in service of domination or resistance by focusing on three cases: torture, self-immolation, and suicide bombing.
She received her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a certificate in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies. She received dissertation fellowships from AAUW and the Institute for Citizens & Scholars.
Contact
Chancellors Hall, Government Department | William & Mary
email: abkaku[at]wm.edu
