Learning from the past, empowering the future

Before she asks her students to consider what a political community looks like, Assistant Professor of Political Science Althea Rani Sircar asks a more pressing question: What does it take to survive unlivable times?

That question became the starting point of her latest research and the heartbeat of her teaching. This summer, Sircar’s exploration in this space has been recognized with two prestigious awards, the Arnold L. and Lois S. Graves Award in the Humanities and the Mellon Emerging Faculty Leaders (MEFL) award from the Institute for Citizens & Scholars— acknowledging her excellence as both a scholar and educator.

“Both the awards recognize the ways my teaching and scholarship focus on fostering intellectual and cultural communities on campus,” she said. “The MEFL is also aimed explicitly at helping scholars at my stage to build our academic professional networks beyond our campuses.”

The awards will aid Sircar as she continues to work on her forthcoming book, tentatively titled, “Affective Political Community in Unlivable Times.” The work is her attempt at “taking the barriers to community seriously and asking other people to do the same,” by examining how communities persist and evolve in the face of uncertainty, asking how we build solidarity and shared meaning amid conditions that feel overwhelming.

Drawing from a diverse group of thinkers from the past, Sircar’s research lives at the intersection of scholarship and social care. Her work has taken her to archives at Harvard, Emory, Spelman, and the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Spending months at the libraries, immersed in the lives of scholars, including late activist and poet June Jordan, Sircar has examined their viewpoints on society when it comes to the political landscape.

“I would come across documentary pieces of writing and feel as though I was being taught and mentored by scholars who were no longer with us,” she said. “It’s not just about what people wrote, it’s about how they lived, how they organized, and how their politics hit the ground.”

That kind of engaged thinking directly shapes her teaching. A seminar she recently led on feminist political theory integrated scholarship related to material she uncovered during her research, as well as methods like reflective journaling that help students process ideas beyond traditional academic forms. “Every thoughtful, carefully stated perspective is welcome,” she said of her classroom. “Community is what we make it, and a classroom is a community just like any other.”

Provost Adrienne McCormick, who supported Sircar’s nominations for both honors, praised her holistic approach to student engagement.

“I was honored to support Dr. Sircar for both awards, and I am not surprised that her scholarship distinguished her from her peers,” she said. “On our campus, Dr. Sircar brings her scholarly interests into her political science and interdisciplinary classes and, just as importantly, she creates vibrant learning opportunities for our students outside of class as well. Dr. Sircar is a central member of the planning team that sponsors our Public Square Speaker Series, inviting guest scholars, artists, filmmakers, and thought leaders to campus — helping our community explore what it means to be an engaged citizen in the 21st century as it evolves around us.”

At a time when public trust in education is increasingly contested, Sircar said the dual recognition has sharpened her sense of purpose.

“These awards have deepened my sense of responsibility to speak and write in the public sphere about why ideas, debates, disagreements, and human knowledge matter,” she said. “For us to create rigorous knowledge, we need the freedom and resources to seek and explore. Our communities need us to vociferously and urgently make the case for education as a human right that is fundamental to human freedom, the survival of our species, and the flourishing of all living beings.”

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