DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Interests

Research Interest(s): Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, politics in the ancient Greek world, classical receptions in American political discourse across media, democratic theory, resilience theory.

Program Area(s): Political Theory

Joint Appointment

Classics

Philosophy

Biography

S. Sara Monoson holds degrees from Brandeis, the LSE and Princeton. Her approach to ancient political philosophy foregrounds the ability of thick historical contextualization to impact our understanding of the philosophical arguments about politics in Greek sources and their enduring resonances. In classical receptions her recent publications address Socrates as a democratic symbol in the 20th century, American proslavery theorists’ deep engagement with Aristotle’s Politics, a visual artist’s use of Aesop in 1930s NYC to promote a critique of capitalism, the use of Greek drama to address war-related PTSD in the U.S. today, and the introduction of the metaphor of "summoning" as a methodological tool for the practice of receptions scholarship. Her current work builds on her past studies of Plato's account of Socrates in combat to examine the logic of the concept of resilience as it appears in public discussion of polities and citizens facing extreme adversity today.

Recent Publications:

• co-editor of 'Summoning Aristotle: Explorations in his Public Perception,' Liverpool University Press, forthcoming 2027.

Awards:

• Faculty Fellowship, Israel Institute for Advanced Study, Hebrew University, 2027
• Faculty Fellow, Academic Engagement Network, 2024-25
• Tarrant Faculty Fellow, Institute for Classical Studies, University of London, 2018-19
• Faculty Fellow, Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University, 2010-11
• Faculty Fellow, Onassis Foundation, Athens, Greece, 2011-12
• Co--P.I., Sawyer Seminar Series on “Theatre Outside Athens: Reception and Revision of Ancient Greek Drama,” Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, 2008-10
• Co-P.I., Teagle Foundation Fresh Thinking Award for a forum in liberal education on the topic “Classical Antiquity and American Popular Culture,” 2005-07
• Best First Book (for Plato’s Democratic Entanglements), Foundations Section, American Political Science Association, 2001
• Barry Farrell Teaching Award, Department of Political Science, Northwestern University, 1998
• Faculty Fellow, Kaplan Center for the Humanities, Northwestern University, 1996-97
• Charlotte W. Newcombe Dissertation Award, 1990

Public Engagement:

• Dramaturg, 'Socrates Now,' Elliniko Theatro, Athens and New York