Katherine Gordy

Katherine Gordy teaches courses in political theory, political economy and Latin American studies. Her specific research and teaching interests include comparative political theory, critical theory, Latin American and Caribbean political thought, theories of history and ideology, Cuban studies and social theory. Her essay “’Sales + Economy + Efficiency = Revolution’?: Dollarization, Consumer Capitalism and Popular Responses in Special Period Cuba” appeared in the spring 2006 issue of Public Culture. She is currently working on a book that traces the inter-relations between what she identifies as different “spheres” of Cuban political thought—political doctrine (official sphere), political theory (academic sphere), and daily practice (popular sphere)—in order to show how a robust socialist ideology operates at all levels of society. The book challenges accounts that treat Cuban socialist ideology as solely state-originated dogma or as necessarily in opposition to academic and popular forms of political thought.

Gordy received her PhD from Cornell University’s Department of Government in 2005. Before coming to SFSU, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Franklin and Marshall College from 2006 to 2008. She spent the previous year teaching at the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School and the Center for Worker Education, City College of New York. Gordy was born and raised in New York City.