Andrew Davison
Andrew Davison joined the faculty in 1996 after receiving his PhD from the University of Minnesota.His scholarly work addresses topics of secularity, borders, modernity, ideology, coloniality, otherness, conversation, and datafication from the perspective of hermeneutic political inquiry. His recent advanced courses include Interpreting Politics, Reconsidering Western Political Thought, and Seminar in Political Theory.
Research and Academic Interests
Histories of Political Thought
Philosophies of Social and Political Inquiry, Explanation, and Interpretation
Modern Political Ideologies
Secularity
Modernity
Bordering Practices
Coloniality and Otherness
Datafication
Departments and Programs
Courses
POLI 273 Interpreting Politics
POLI 384 Seminar in Political Theory
Selected Publications
Books
Close Encounters: A Poetic Philosophy of Political Analysis (Columbia University Press, 2025).
Interpreting Politics: Debating the Foundations and Objectives of Political Analysis, coauthored with Mark N. Hoffman (Cornwall-on-the-Hudson: Sloan Publishing, 2020).
The Philosophic Roots of Modern Ideology: Liberalism, Conservatism, Marxism, Fascism, Nazism, Islamism, Feminism, fully revised fifth edition, coauthored with David E. Ingersoll and Richard K. Matthews (Cornwall-on-the-Hudson: Sloan Publishing, 2017).
Border Thinking on the Edges of the West: Crossing over the Hellespont (Routledge, Worlding Beyond the West Series, 2014)
The World Is My Home: A Hamid Dabashi Reader, coedited with Himadeep Muppidi (Transaction, 2010)
The Philosophic Roots of Modern Ideology: Liberalism, Conservatism, Marxism, Fascism, Nazism, Islamism, coauthored with David E. Ingersoll and Richard K. Matthews (Sloan Publishing, 2010)
Europe and Its Boundaries: Words and Worlds, Within and Beyond, coedited with Himadeep Muppidi (Lexington Books, 2009)
Conquering Hearts and Minds: The American War Ideology in the Persian/Arabian Gulf, 1990–2003 (Istanbul Bilgi University Press, 2005)
Corporatist Ideology in Kemalist Turkey: Progress or Order?, coauthored with Taha Parla (Syracuse University Press, 2004)
Secularism and Revivalism in Turkey: A Hermeneutic Reconsideration (Yale University Press, 1998)
Essays
“Ersin Kalaycioğlu’s Capacious Theory of Political Modernity,” translated and published as “Ersin Kalaycıoğlu'nun Kapsamlı Siyasal Modernite Teorisi”, in Türkiye Siyasetinin Sınırları: Siyasal Davranış, Kurumlar ve Kültür [The Boundaries of Turkish Politics: Political Behavior, Institutions, and Culture], Ali Çarkoğlu, Emre Erdoğan and Mert Moral, editors (Istanbul: Istanbul Bilgi University Press, 2023, pp. 439–452).
“Hermeneutics and the Question of Transparency,” contribution to “Symposium: Transparency in Qualitative and Multi-Method Research,” Qualitative and Multi-Method Research, Tim Büthe and Alan M. Jacobs, eds (Spring 2015)
“Hermeneutics and the Politics of Secularism,” in Linell E. Cady and Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, ed., Comparative Secularisms in a Global Age (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)
“The Power and Hermeneutic Limits of Social Fact Analysis in Political Science Research on Turkey,” Sosyoloji Dergisi, 3:21 (Istanbul Universitesi Edebiyat Fakultesi: Istanbul Universitesi Yayinlari, 2010)
“Secularism and Laicism in Turkey,” coauthored with Taha Parla, in Secularisms, edited by Janet R. Jakobsen and Ann Pellegrini (Duke University Press, 2008)
“Laiklik and Turkey’s ‘Cultural’ Modernity: Releasing Turkey into Conceptual Space Occupied by ‘Europe’,” in Remaking Turkey: Globalization, Alternative Modernities, and Democracy, edited by E. Fuat Keyman (Lexington Books, 2007)
“Ziya Gökalp and ‘Provincializing Europe’,” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East (2006)
“The ‘Soft’ Power of Hollywood Militainment: The Case of The West Wing’s Attack on Antalya, Turkey,” New Political Science (2006)
“Turkey a ‘Secular’ State? The Challenge of Description,” The South Atlantic Quarterly (2003)
Documentary film
Leaps of Faith: Views on American Power, the War in Iraq, and Citizenship in a Time of War (co-directed with Benjamin Kalina VC ’98, 2004).
Photos
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