Thomas David Bunting
110 North Hall, 1050 Bascom Mall
Department of Political Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI 53706
(989) 763-0891
[email protected]
Education
University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2011-Present
Ph.D. Candidate, Political Science (May 2017 expected)
Major fields: Political Theory and American Politics
Minor field: Continental Philosophy
M.A., Political Science, May 2012
Michigan State University, 2007-2011
B.A., Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy, James Madison College, May 2011
Research
Dissertation:
Democracy at the Ballpark: Sport, Spectatorship, and Politics
Committee: Richard Avramenko (chair), Daniel Kapust, Helen Kinsella, John Zumbrunnen.
Publications:
“A Bible, an Ax and a Tablet: Tocqueville’s Newspapers and Everyday Political Discourse in a
Digital Age” (Perspectives on Political Science, forthcoming, available online since June 2016)
Working Papers:
“Moneyball State of Mind: Sabermetrics, Technology and Democratic Epistemology” (under review)
“Sportsmanship and Politics: Xenophon, ΠΟΝΟΣ, and Democratic Competition” (co-author with
Richard Avramenko, under review)
“Breaking Barriers and Coded Language: Watching Politics of Race at the Ballpark” (under review)
Reviews:
Review of Jason Stanley’s How Propaganda Works. Voegelin View, April 2016.
Conference Presentations:
“Democratic Losers: Sportsmanship and the Ethic of Winning and Losing,” Midwest Political Science
Association conference. April 2016.
“Moneyball State of Mind: Sabermetrics, Technology and Democratic Epistemology,” Association for
Political Theory conference. October 2015.
“Who Plays? The Politics of Equality and Exclusion in Baseball,” Western Political Science Association
conference. April 2015.
“A Bible, an Ax and a Tablet: Tocqueville’s Newspapers and Everyday Political Discourse in a Digital
Age,” American Political Science Association conference. August 2014.
“A Bible, an Ax and a Tablet: Tocqueville’s Newspapers and Everyday Political Discourse in a Digital
Age,” Midwest Political Science Association conference. April 2014.
Colloquia Presentations:
“Who Plays? The Politics of Equality and Exclusion in Baseball,” University of Wisconsin-Madison
Political Theory Workshop. February 2015.
“The Democratic Weapon of Freedom: Tocqueville’s Newspapers and Everyday Political Discourse,”
University of Wisconsin-Madison Political Theory Workshop. March 2014.
Research Interests:
Continental Political Thought, American Political Thought, Democratic Theory, Ancient Political
Thought, Politics and Literature, Sports and Politics
Fellowships, Funding, Awards, and Honors:
Bradley Fellow, 2016-2017
University Housing Honored Instructor, Spring 2016
Bradley Fellow, 2015-2016
Murray-Edelman Travel Grant, Fall 2015
Bradley Fellow, 2014-2015
Murray-Edelman Travel Grant, Spring 2014
University of Wisconsin-Madison Political Science Department Teaching Assistantship (full tuition and
stipend), 2012-2017
University of Wisconsin-Madison Political Science Department Research Assistantship (full tuition
and stipend), 2011
Teaching
Lecturer:
Spring of 2016
Fall of 2015
Fall of 2014
ILS 206: Western Culture: Political, Economic, and Social Thought II
ILS 205: Western Culture: Political, Economic, and Social Thought I
PS 501: Politics and Sport in the Ancient World
Teaching Assistant:
Fall of 2016
Spring of 2015
Spring of 2014
Fall of 2013
Spring of 2013
Fall of 2012
Spring of 2012
PS 501: Deception and Politics
ILS 206: Western Culture: Political, Economic, and Social Thought II
ILS 206: Western Culture: Political, Economic, and Social Thought II
ILS 205: Western Culture: Political, Economic, and Social Thought I
ILS 206: Western Culture: Political, Economic, and Social Thought II
ILS 205: Western Culture: Political, Economic, and Social Thought I
PS 104: Introduction to American Government
Guest Lectures:
“Rousseau’s Critique of Modernity,” ILS 206 April 6 and 8, 2015
“Schmitt and Agonistic Democracy,” ILS 206 April 28 and 30, 2014
“Aristotle’s Teleological Politics,” ILS 205 November 21 and 26, 2013
“Book X of Plato’s Republic: Return to Myth,” PS 501 November 22, 2013
“Hegel and Progressive History,” ILS 206 March 21 and April 2, 2013
“Friendship in Aristotle’s Ethics,” ILS 205 November 15, 2012
“Aristotle and Happiness,” ILS 205 November 13, 2012
Professional Service
Graduate Student Coordinator for the Political Theory Workshop, University of Wisconsin-Madison,
Fall 2015-Present
Graduate Advisor for the Undergraduate Political Theory Association, Fall 2012-Present
Panelist “Teaching During Politically Contentious Times,” September 2016
Discussant, “Neither Religious nor Spiritual: Nietzsche’s Illiberal, Faith-Based Self-Fashioning,”
presented by Shalini Satkunanandan at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Political Theory
Workshop, April 2016
Panelist “Ins and Outs of Lecturing” at the TA Brown Bag at University of Wisconsin-Madison,
February 2015
Member of the Integrated Liberal Studies Awards Committee, Spring 2014
Graduate Student Representative on the Computer Committee, Fall 2013-Spring 2014
First Year Graduate Student Mentor, Fall 2012-Spring 2014
Discussant, “Kantian Moral Psychology: Humiliation and the Development of Respect for the Moral
Law,” presented by Michelle Schwarze at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Political Theory
Workshop, March 2014
Discussant, “Locke’s Violent Liberalism,” presented by Brandon Turner at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison Political Theory Workshop, April 2013
Discussant, “Speaking Relative Truth to Power: Antifoundationalism and Oppression in AfricanAmerican Thought,” presented by Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Political Theory Workshop, December 2012
Language Skills
English, German (reading), Spanish (reading)
References
Richard Avramenko
Associate Professor of Political Science
201E North Hall
1050 Bascom Mall
Department of Political Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 263-2292
[email protected]
Helen Kinsella
Associate Professor of Political Science
314 North Hall
1050 Bascom Mall
Department of Political Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 263-2396
[email protected]
Daniel Kapust
Associate Professor of Political Science
311 North Hall
1050 Bascom Mall
Department of Political Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 262-2032
[email protected]
John Zumbrunnen
Professor of Political Science
322D North Hall
1050 Bascom Mall
Department of Political Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 262-5701
[email protected]