John Harpham

John Harpham is a PhD candidate in the Department of Government. He studies political theory and the history of political thought. His dissertation argues that slavery took root in the English New World colonies within an historical context that was to a great extent innocent of the modern concept of race, and in which slavery was understood as a status assigned to certain persons on the basis of their actions or choices rather than any deep fact that inhered in their natures. The project is titled “The Intellectual Origins of American Slavery.” Although his focus here is early-modern England, he is interested in general in themes of freedom, slavery, and race in American political thought. He has substantial interests as well in literary history, legal history, and the history and memory of American slavery; his articles on these subjects have appeared in Criticism, Raritan, and Slavery & Abolition. He has held dissertation research fellowships from Harvard’s Center for American Political Studies, Charles Warren Center, and Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics.