Ishaan Jajodia
Bio:
I am a Political Theory PhD student at the Department of Political Science at Yale, prior to which I earned an AB at Dartmouth College, majoring in Art History and minoring in Government.
Well-meaning individuals and mentors have constantly emphasised the need for coherence to the work that I do, perhaps in order to tell a good overarching narrative about the work that I do. Here you will see that heeding that advice has been quite hard for me, and that my own eclecticism reflects in the unconventional choice and spread of topics I write about. For all intents and purposes, however, one might pithily call me the practical political philosopher, interested in seeing and writing about political ideas in practice.
My dissertation project examines the political ideas behind city planning and argue that city planning is, in essence, political philosophy in practise, from Pericles and Hippodamus to the futuristic Saudi Arabian city Neom, best known for its twin mile-long skyscrapers. From the Periclean Parthenon to the “smart cities” of the Middle East, I look at how cities embody and reflect political philosophy’s practical application throughout history and chart a trajectory for cities past, present, and future.
More on present, past, and future projects at ishaanjajodia.com.
Contact:
Education:
- Education: Dartmouth College, A.B., Art History, minor in Government (2021)
Interests:
- Political Theory
- Ancient Greek Political Thought
- Anglophone Political Philosophy, particularly Edmund Burke and Benjamin Disraeli