Patrick Giamario
About
Patrick Giamario is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science. Patrick is a political theorist whose research and teaching focus on contemporary democratic theory, critical theory, the history of political thought, and aesthetic philosophy. His first book, Laughter as Politics: Critical Theory in an Age of Hilarity,was published by Edinburgh University Press in 2022. This book turns to Thomas Hobbes, Theodor Adorno, Ralph Ellison, and feminist and queer thinkers like Hélène Cixous and Judith Butler to develop a critical theory of laughter that illuminates laughter as a privileged site wherein the contemporary social order constructs, preserves, and transforms itself politically. Patrick is also the author of articles published in Contemporary Political Theory, Theory & Event,Philosophy & Social Criticism, Political Research Quarterly, and Angelaki. He is currently working on a new book project tentatively titled The Lie of Nobility: Plato’s Noble Lie and the Democratic Power of Deception. Patrick received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 2018.
Research
Laughter as Politics offers a novel account of laughter’s role in contemporary political life. A world awash in hilarity has rendered the traditional philosophical question of whether laughter should play a role in politics obsolete. Faced with the laughter generated by late-night comedians, Twitter trolls, and reality TV presidents, we must instead trace how laughter operates politically. Only an account of gelopolitics – that is, of the concrete practices of and regulations around laughter (gelōs [γέλως]) that shape and reshape a political community – can reveal the possibilities and dangers of the current moment. Through investigations of the accounts of laughter offered by Thomas Hobbes, Theodor Adorno, Ralph Ellison, and feminist and queer thinkers like Hélène Cixous and Judith Butler, this book develops a critical theory of laughter that illuminates laughter as a privileged site wherein the contemporary social order constructs, preserves, and transforms itself politically.