August Shipman

Ph.D Candidate

August Mitchell Shipman (he/him/they/them) is a PhD candidate in political science at the University of Connecticut, Storrs. He specializes in political theory with competence in international relations. His doctoral research theorizes what he calls ‘detraumatization’ and conceptualizes a mass line of revolutionary action based on Frantz Fanon’s understanding of national liberation. Currently, he is engaged in field research examining the interaction between multigenerational trauma and the persistence of colonial social relations among indigenous communities in Brazil. He is also working on a group project aimed at elucidating the connections between ongoing stigmatization and the multifaceted violences committed against indigenous people on the sugarcane plantations during the 1970s-1990s in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.

Broad research interests: political violence, Global Southern Marxism, sociogenic psychology, imperialism, decolonization, indigeneity, dialectical and historical materialism, anti-imperialist thought and social movements

Focused research interests: revolutionary counterviolence, multigenerational trauma, protracted people’s war, mass line, Frantz Fanon, creolization, intrinsic and instrumental dimensions of political violence

Education:

2024: Master of Arts in Political Science, University of Connecticut (UConn). Storrs, CT.

2021: Master of Science in Violence, Conflict and Development – Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. London, UK.

2015: Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a minor in Women’s Studies, Indiana University. Columbus, IN.

2015: Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Indiana University. Columbus, IN.