Amanda Arulanandam

Research Fellow

 

Project: The City of the Humble: On the Place of the ‘Oppressed’ Within Political Life

Political life is typically thought to be characterized by power and domination. Thus, as Thucydides famously recounted in his account of the Siege of Melos, “the strong take what they can, while the weak suffer what they must.” Yet with the introduction of Christianity, this idea is also challenged: the “humble” or the “weak” are said to inherit the earth, and they are given a position of privilege. This project examines several Christian and early modern thinkers in order to consider whether the ‘humble’ can have a significant place within political life and, if so, what this expression of politics would look like.

Bio: Amanda Arulanandam holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto, with a specialization in political theory. Her research interests lie in Christian and early modern political thought, especially insofar as they pertain to questions of virtue and religion.