Rajesh Sampath

Biography

"Raj completed his PhD at the University of California, Irvine in the humanities where he studied under the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, the founder of deconstruction. His areas of specialization centered on the philosophy of history, historical time and epochal shifts. Subsequently, he did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley and a D.A.A.D. research scientist fellowship in Germany where he published articles in continental European philosophy. From 2006-2009, he was an adjunct lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and continued to serve on the Provost Council for College Eight at the University until June 2012. His current research interests and disciplinary expertise include: twentieth century Anglo-American and European moral and political philosophy, philosophical theories of modernization and social-historical change, comparative constitutional law and legal philosophy, epistemology and the sociology of knowledge in comparative religious studies, and comparisons of Western philosophy and traditional African, Indian and Chinese philosophy. Teaching interests include Critical Race Theory/Intersectionality, Global Queer and Gender studies, Anglo-American, European and Global South traditions of philosophical ethics, human rights, and theories of justice when applied to sustainable development issues. In addition to publishing in academic journals, Raj has written an op ed for The Washington Post, a letter to the Editor for the NY Times, a short article for The Conversation, and blogs for The Huffington Post on various topics in comparative constitutional law, public and social policy. He appeared on a panel on Huff Post Live that discussed diversity, rights and free speech at American university campuses. He was invited by Al Jazeera America to appear on the Sunday evening news where he analyzed the upcoming Indian Supreme Court hearing on LGBTQ rights. He was a commentator for the ""Louis D. Brandeis 100: Then & Now"" Event Series panel discussion on ""Jewish Justices and the Expanding Diversity of the Supreme Court"" at Brandeis University. In April 2016, Raj was invited to participate in an episode of a new TV series launched by National Geographic exploring different notions of sexuality and gender in America and around the world. In May 2017 he was interviewed for the cover story on race, racism, and caste - ""The Heart of Darkness: Caste or Color? Both spark hostilities in India"" - of India Abroad, a leading newspaper for the Indian diaspora. Raj teaches in the Masters of Arts Graduate Program in Sustainable International Development where he is currently serving as Associate Director at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. He teaches in the Heller School PhD Program in Social Policy. Raj is also the Lead Investigator of the Program on Social Exclusion at the Heller School's Center for Global Development and Sustainability. During the summers he has visited universities in Africa and India exploring how development ethics and theories of justice fit within graduate school curricula of development studies within developing country contexts. For three weeks in the summer of 2016, Raj was a visiting professor in the philosophy department at Hebrew University in Jerusalem under the Brandeis-Israel Collaborative Research grant program funded by Bronfman Philanthropies. In addition to being a full-time faculty member of the Heller School, he is a member of the core faculty in the Master of Arts Program in Comparative Humanities (MACH) within the Division of the Humanities, an adviser to MA theses in the Master of Arts Program in Global Studies within the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the core faculty in the South Asian Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences. In the Spring of 2016, 2017, and 2018 he is teaching the core required graduate seminar in MACH on the ""Philosophical and Theoretical Foundations of the Humanities."" In the 2016-2017 academic year, he taught the core required senior undergraduate capstone Integrative Seminar on Health with a focus on Bioethics for the interdisciplinary undergraduate program in Health: Science, Society and Policy. HSSP is a synthetic program drawing from the social and natural sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. In the Spring and Fall of 2017 he is teaching a PhD course on Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality and its impact on health and social policy in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management PhD program on Social Policy. In the Spring of 2018 he will teach the required Heller PhD course on The Theory of Social Policy and Change. Beginning in Fall 2016 he is serving a three-year term as a Member-At-Large in the Faculty Senate. In the Fall of 2016, he was appointed to be a member of the Brandeis University President's Task Force on Free Expression. Raj is involved in a number of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committees and initiatives across the university. Raj is a member of the NAACP."

Research Interest

General topics in applied moral and political philosophy; philosophy of development; comparative religions; theories of justice; development ethics; philosophy of law, comparative constitutional law, critical race theory, gender and sexuality studies, theories of human rights and theories of democracy