I have experience teaching at a wide variety of institutions including research universities and small liberal arts colleges. I have also taught interdisciplinary courses as well as an online curriculum. My teaching stresses developing skills of critical inquiry and analysis that can be put to use across the humanities and social sciences. In my pedagogy I believe it is especially important to be sensitive to issues of diversity and I encourage inquiry into the structural bases behind inequality and racism in Western societies.
Courses Taught
At SUNY Oneonta, I currently teach the following courses:
Understanding Political Ideas
This course is an introduction to political theory for majors and non-majors. Particular emphasis will be given to core concepts relevant to question of political life such as power, freedom, obligation, rights, and to essential themes such as democracy, representation, citizenship, and the proper relationship of the individual to the state. Through reading primary and secondary texts, we will examine modern and contemporary political ideologies such as liberalism, conservatism, socialism, communism, fascism, radical Islamism, and those arising from liberation and ecological movements.
Modern Political Thought
A selective survey of the history of European political thought from the Renaissance to the latter half of the nineteenth century, focusing on several influential political and philosophical treatises, the historical contexts in which those works were written, and the continuing relevance of their arguments. The course will focus, first, on early modern attempts to present rational political and moral alternatives to traditional forms of rule; and, second, on late modern political and moral responses to the unfolding of competitive market societies during the age of revolutions. Thinkers examined may include Machiavelli, Locke, Rousseau, Bentham, Constant, Kant, Tristan, Marx, and J.S. Mill. This course, along with POLS 1010, will provide a broad survey of major western political and philosophical innovations and traditions.
Contemporary Political Thought
An examination of political and philosophical currents of thought in the 20th and 21st centuries, their relationships to modern Western traditions, and their significance for contemporary political debates. Topics to be examined may include critical theory, democratic theory, globalism, feminism, liberalism, multiculturalism, neo-conservatism, post-colonialism, post-modernism, and post-structuralism. Prior completion of POLS 3020 is recommended.
Eco-Socialist Political Thought
Marx’s critique of capitalism has been seen historically as a powerful description of how human labor-power is exploited for profit. The last half-century, however, has seen the rise of theories that link the Marxist critique of capitalism with a radical environmentalist approach. This approach, broadly titled eco-socialism, combines Marxist approaches to capitalism, imperialism, and environmentalism. Eco-socialism posits that the environmental degradation witnessed under capitalism is as inevitable for the functioning of the system as its exploitation of the working class, and that solutions to the environmental crises of our era cannot be found within capitalism, but only in a future, sustainable, socialist society. In this class students will examine and develop an understanding of major Marxist analyses of capitalism through thinkers such as Marx, Lenin, and Luxemburg. They will also examine key eco-socialist and social ecology writers such as Murray Bookchin, John Bellamy Foster, Michael Löwy. Students will develop a deeper understanding of the normative critique of capitalism represented by these theories and appreciation for the larger and complex questions linking the environmental crises of this era with potential solutions.
Contemporary Black Social and Political Thought
• What is race? This question has vexed modernity. We will examine this thorny question and search for answers primarily using contemporary Black political thinkers. Questions and events that drove political thinkers to write the texts we will read will inform our search. By the end of the semester, you will have at least an understanding of the concept of race, its origins, and meanings.
• How are race and capitalism connected? Our exploration will examine recent theories of racial capitalism that explore the rise of capitalism as a social system with the concept of race. Colonialism, the carceral state, fascism, genocide, imperialism, labor, nationalism, and slavery are all aspects of the theory of racial capitalism we will study this semester. We will scrutinize these topics through the assigned readings and come to our own conclusions on them.
• What is the Black Radical Tradition and what is its importance to resistance struggles?
We will examine the Black Radical Tradition and its development of the racial capitalism framework. We will explore concepts and thinkers normally excluded from the canon of political theory. These are critical theories that are meant to aid in liberation, anti-colonial, and anti-racist struggles. By semester’s end we will come to a better understanding of the forms of resistance to racial oppression expressed by the Black Radical Tradition.
US Government
An introductory overview of American national government: constitutionalism, federalism, Congress, Presidency, bureaucracy, political parties, judiciary, public policy, elections, public opinion, and political behavior. Recommended for students who want a basic general course in American government or who plan to take 2000-level POLS courses. Required for the political science major.
US Social Movements
An examination of the role played by social movements in the American political system. Analyzes the organizations, goals, strategy, and tactics employed by past and contemporary American social movements with a focus on protest and other extraordinary forms of political participation. Social movements are studied to better understand their interaction with political institutions, public policy, and American political culture.
Peter A. LaVenia, Jr. 