Affiliated Faculty
Steward Gardner, Ph.D.
School of Public Service-Political Science.
Gardner teaches courses on political thought —Ancient (Plato, Aristotle, and occasionally another), Modern (Machiavelli through Rousseau), and contemporary, and, occasionally teaches Heidegger’s Being and Time. His contemporary courses often have themes like History or Biopolitics, organizing works from Kant to the present to explore the central concept.
Contact Steward Gardner at stewartgardner@boisestate.edu
Reshmi Mukherjee, Ph.D.
Department of Humanities and Cultural Studies
Mukherjee teaches GS 200 Introduction to Gender Studies, ENGL 395 Women Writers, and ENGL 396 Postcolonial Literature. Her research and teaching areas are Global Anglophone Literature, Contemporary British Literature, Postcolonial Theory, Cultural Poetics, Gender Studies, and Refugee Studies.
Contact Reshmi Mukherjee at reshmimukherjee@boisestate.edu
Jacoba Rock, Ph.D.
School of Social Work
Rock’s primary focus as a practitioner-scholar is on the application of social work knowledge, skills, and ethics to reform and abolition efforts in the U.S. criminal legal system. Rock utilizes theory to critically question and prompt necessary change to the institutional practices and processes which cause short- and long-term harm to individuals, families, and communities.
Contact Jacoba Rock at JacobaRock@BoiseState.edu
Meghant Sudan, Ph.D.
Philosophy Department
PHIL 316: Philosophy & Critical Theory
Meghant’s research focuses on issues in the study of consciousness and inter-subjectivity and of metaphysical elements of Naturphilosophie in the systems of German Idealism and Enlightenment. In addition, his wider intellectual interests and his philosophical training include phenomenology, Frankfurt School, French post-structuralism and deconstruction, postcolonial theory, feminism, classical Indian philosophy, and Modern European socio-political thought.
Contact Meghant Sudan at meghantsudan@boisestate.edu
Craig Peariso, Ph.D.
Art Department
Craig Peariso is Associate Professor of the History of Art and Visual Culture at Boise State University. His first book, Radical Theatrics: Put-ons, Politics, and the Sixties, was published in 2014 by the University of Washington Press. His short-form writing has been featured in journals such as Third Text, the Journal of American Studies, and the Journal of American History, and in various collections, including the Scandal of Susan Sontag and the forthcoming Design Radicals. He is currently at work on a second book entitled Interfaces: The Contemporary Cultural Politics of Participation.
Contact Craig Peariso at craigpeariso@boisestate.edu
Tomasz Grusiecki, Ph.D.
Art History and Visual Studies
Tomasz teaches courses on the history of visual and material culture in Europe from 1500 through 1700, a period that is now often described as early modernity. Inquiring into the origins of modernity and how it changed our ideas about what it means to be a human being, an individual, and a citizen, these courses engage students with critical theories and debates to help them historicize today’s forms of visual representation, from selfies and memes to fashion and urban landscape.
Contact him at tomaszgrusiecki@boisestate.edu
Matt Recla, Ph.D
University Foundations – Associate Director
Matt teaches courses on religion in University Foundations and with the Department of History. Matt’s research is on religious violence, specifically dealing with early Christian martyrdom and its impact on modern understandings of religion and violence. He has published in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Critical Research on Religion, and The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Christian Martyrdom. He is working on a book entitled Rethinking Christian Martyrdom: The Blood and the Seed. Matt’s work draws on scholars within the tradition of critical theory such as Martin Heidegger, Giorgio Agamben, and Georges Bataille.
See more about Matt’s work at https://boisestate.academia.edu/MatthewRecla and contact him at matthewrecla@boisestate.edu.
David Gabbard
David Gabbard has been a widely read critical theorist in educational studies for nearly 30 years. He currently serves as Director of Research and Pedagogy with the Zizekian Institute and co-organizer of the International Zizek Studies Conference. Inspired by Slavoj Zizek’s call for a Positive Universal Project, Dr. Gabbard conceives of his courses as exercises in positive universal curriculum theory.
Contact David Gabbard at davidgabbard873@boisestate.edu.
Chris Courtheyn, Ph.D.
School of Public Service: Urban Studies & Community Development, Global Studies, and Environmental Studies
Courtheyn teaches about globalization, development, political movements, and social theory. His regional specialization is Latin America. Based on years of global public service work and research in conflict zones, his book, Community of Peace: Performing Geographies of Ecological Dignity in Colombia, explores how grassroots communities in Colombian war zones create peace through territorial resistance, memorialization, and political solidarity.
Contact Chris Courtheyn at ccourtheyn@boisestate.edu.