Political Science

Ayantu is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate studying political theory. She received her B.A. in International Studies from the University of Oregon with minors in Political Science and Chinese. Broadly, her research interests lie in questions of race and class in democratic theory, critical theory and the Frankfurt School, politics of hope and utopia, and ethics of care. Currently, she is interested in better understanding U.S. American conservatism and the increasing salience of far-right, reactionary politics. She is motivated by the question - how might we understand far-right politics differently, and how might this different understanding contribute to the building of a strong, multiracial left movement in the U.S.? Before attending Brown, Ayantu worked in Australia as a nanny for two lovely children. Before that, she worked as a mentor, tutor, and organizer with youth from low-income, underserved communities and of marginalized backgrounds. She is deeply committed to the idea that teaching is a form of political praxis that can either serve to recreate conditions of oppression and domination, or can be oriented towards creating new conditions for freedom and collective emancipation.