Andres F Henao Castro

PhD Candidate

Teaching Associate
Machmer E-24
Email: ahenaoca@polsci.umass.edu
Phone: (413) 559-9621

Interests:

My current research interests include a reinterpretation of Sophocles’ tragedy, Antigone, which I read as representative of the contemporary counter-politics inaugurated by undocumented immigrants; a re-reading of Marcel Proust’s and Jorge Luis Borges’ texts on memory for the purpose of problematizing the current political process of memory-reconstruction in the context of Colombia's ongoing armed conflict; and a film project on the ‘illegal’ funerals performed by residents of the municipality of Puerto Berrío, Colombia, for which I am also employing Antigone’s script. My other research and teaching interests include Greek tragedy, the convergence of politics, literature, and aesthetics, memory and violence, family law and immigration, and the paradoxes of political membership in democratic contexts.

Education:
PhD Candidate University of Massachusetts Amherst. MA Political Science (2012) University of Massachusetts Amherst. MA Philosophy (2011) Universidad Nacional de Colombia. BA Political Science (2006) Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Courses Taught:
Introduction to Political Theory (Fall 2012) University of Massachusetts Amherst. Interpretation and Political Analysis 399J (2011-2012) University of Massachusetts Amherst. Seminar on Political Culture (Spring 2008) Universidad Nacional de Colombia. History of Political Ideas II (Fall 2007) Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Current Projects:
Dissertation: "Antigone claimed: ‘I am a stranger.’ Immigration, Political Membership and Democracy." Book Manuscript: "Speaking About Totalitarianism: T. W. Adorno and Hannah Arendt." Novel: "Antigone. A Tragicomedy in Two Acts."