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B.A., Tufts University; M.A. and Ph.D., Yale University

Lisa Gilson is an Assistant Professor of Politics at Bates College, specializing in political theory. Her work focuses on political reaction which is expressed outside of mainstream political channels, from abolitionist movements to contemporary far-right groups. She is currently working on a book about the relationship between social movements and social critics, including artists and writers. Her book shows how critics can take advantage of their distance from movements to help further the same cause – but often in quite divergent ways. Lisa’s work has been published in the American Political Science Review, Political Research Quarterly, American Political Thought and Perspectives on Politics. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University in 2019 and spent 2019-2020 as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard. At Bates, Lisa teaches courses on social movements, Black political thought, literature and politics, and democratic theory more broadly. Many of her courses are or will be cross-listed with the Gender and Sexuality Studies program.

Classes for Academic Year 2024-2025:
Fall 2024:
PLTC 295: Reading Marx, Rethinking Marxisms
FYS 563: Political Theories of Violence and Nonviolence

Winter 2025:
PLTC 191: Western Political Theory
PLTC 346: Power and Protest

Spring 2025:
PLTC s28: The American Far-Right