Political Science

Olivia Gawehnidi Porter is an enrolled citizen of the Seneca Nation and a member of the Turtle Clan from the Nation’s Allegany Territory. She is also a first year Ph.D. student. She graduated with her B.A. in Political Philosophy from Syracuse University, where she was the recipient of the 2023 Peterfreund Prize in Philosophy. She received her M.A. in Philosophy from Stanford University, where she achieved Highest Honors Distinction for her thesis titled, “Hobbes and Epicurus on the Politics of Fearing Death.” Her broad interests include Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) treaties and political thought, the influence of colonization on tribal governance, democratic theory, decolonial theory, fear in Western political philosophy, and fear as a political tool.