Char R. Miller

Schar School of Policy and Government 
George Mason University 
3351 Fairfax Drive 
703/993-1407

48 G Street SW 
Washington, D.C. 20024 
202/253-8772 
cmillerd@gmu.edu

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

George Mason University, Associate Professor, 2008-present

George Mason University, Assistant Professor, 2001-present

EDUCATION

The Johns Hopkins University

Ph.D., Political Science, January 1999 Dissertation: "State Institutions and Subjectivity"

Idaho State University

B.S. with High Honors, Political Science, August 1990

B.A. with High Honors, History, August 1990

PUBLICATIONS

Books

Cities on the Plains: Divinity and Diversity. (New York: Macmillan/Palgrave, 2009).

Taylored Citizenship: State Discipline and Subjectivity. (New York: Praeger Publishers, 2001).

Journal Articles

“Time of the Anti-Christ: Paul’s Subversion of Empire.” Political Theory Vol. 37, No. 4 (2009) 562-570.

“Aesthetic of Strength: the Air Force Memorial and Virilio’s Last War”

Theory and Event 12:1(2009).

"'In the Sweat of Our Brow': Domestic Discipline, National Identity, and Individualism."

Journal of American Culture. Vol. 26 (Sept.2003), Is. 3. 395-409.

"Consuming Cosmopolitans: Martha Nussbaum and Francis Mayes Get a Purchase on Italy and the World." Genre Vol. 23 (2003) 80-83.

"Drawing Out Theory: Art and the Teaching of Political Theory." PS: Political Science and Politics (June 2000), 213-218.

"The Star-Spangled Banner." Journal of American History (December 2000), 977-981.

Book Chapters

"’Neither Palace, Nor Temple, Nor Tomb’: The Lincoln Memorial in an Age of Commercial Re-appropriation." In Michael E. Geisler, ed., Contested Ground: National Symbols and National Identity (University Press of New England, 2005), 195-220.

"Go Down Moses: Zora Neale Hurston and Sigmund Freud on Political Identification." In Race and the Production of Modern American Nationalism, ed. Reynolds Scott-

Childress. Wellesley Studies in Critical Theory (New York: Garland Press, 1999), 247- 271.

Reviews

“Good Faith and Credit.” Theory & Event 13:2 (2010).

“Zizek’s Second Coming.” A Review of Slavoj Zizek’s On Belief. In Postmodern Culture. Vol. 13 (January 2003), No. 2.

"In a Democratic Fashion: Book Review of Herbert Blau, Nothing in Itself, Complexions of Fashion; Gilles Lipovetsky, Empire of Fashion: Dressing Modern Democracy; and Daniel Roche, The Culture of Clothing: Dress and Fashion in The Ancien Regime." Review in Agora. 2.1 (Winter 2003).

“Ancient Greek Popular Literature.” Book review of William Hansen, ed., Anthology of Ancient Greek Literature, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998). The Classical Review. Vol. 52 (Sept. 2002), Is. 2. pp. 284-287.

Book review of Kate Weigand, Red Feminism: American Communism and the Making of Women's Liberation, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001) at the request of History of Education Quarterly. Vol 42 (Summer 2002), No. 2.

“Democratic Civility and Modern Political Ideals.” Book review of Democratic Civility: The History and Cross-Cultural Possibility of a Modern Political Ideal, Edited by Robert

W. Hefner. (Transaction Publishers, 1998). Symplokē. Vol.9, No. 1-2. pp. 173-75.

Other Publications

“Wealth.” in The Encyclopedia of Political Thought eds. Michael Gibbons, Diana Coole, Lisa Ellis, and Kennan Ferguson (Wiley-Blackwell, 2014). Peer-Reviewed.

“Shakespeare,” in The Encyclopedia of Political Thought eds. Michael Gibbons, Diana Coole, Lisa Ellis, and Kennan Ferguson (Wiley-Blackwell, 2014) Peer-Reviewed.

"Lincoln Memorial" and "Alan Colquhoun." Contributions concerning National Monuments and Postmodernism. Entries for Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Architecture, Edited by R. Stephen Sennott, (Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2004).

"John Russell Pope." Entry for Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Architecture, Edited by R. Stephen Sennott, (Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2004).

American Government Study Guide. Companion to American Government by Alan R. Gitelson, Robert L. Dudley, and Melvin J. Dubnick (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001). Revised (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003).

Democracy in America: Everyone’s Responsibility: A Democracy Reader. (Washington: Annenberg/EFC, 2003). Co-authored with Robert Dudley and Joel Clark.

"Frederick Winslow Taylor." Entry for Encyclopedia of World Biography, Edited by Jennifer Mossman, (Cambridge, MA: Gale Group, 2002).

Dirty Linen: World and Folk Music. Political Culture Critic.(1998-2005).

Web Posts

Posts for Contemporary Condition

GRANTS

Annenberg/EFC. Democracy in America: Everyone’s Responsibility. Investigator with Robert Dudley for $160,000 award for a pre-service and in-service distance learning course on democracy and citizenship for high school instructors.

TAC (Technology Across the Curriculum) Grant. Awarded $1000.00 initial grant to create a program for Democracy 101 in which students create web pages together as public and political space. Additional $1000.00 possible upon further implementation and review.

N.E.H. Fellowship. Participant in awarded fellowship for the creation and implementation of Western Civilization Project at George Mason University, Fall 2001.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

“’Into that Great Void’: Springsteen and the Political Force of Musical Horror.” Western Political Science Conference. Las Vegas. April 3, 2015.

“Laughing Matters: Poverty and Violence in Charlie Chaplin.” American Political Science Conference. Washington, DC. 2014.

“Wages of Death: Money, Sacrifice, and Sovereignty in Plato’s Republic.” American Political Science Conference. Chicago, 2013.

“Swan Song: Political Action and the Future.” Western Political Science Conference. Seattle. April 2013.

“Adam Smith and the Fluidity of Value.” Relational Forms II - Ex certa scientia: Literature, Science and the Arts. Porto, Portugal. December 2013.

“’Goes Without Saying’: Arendt and Chaplin on Statelessness.” Western Political Science Conference. Hollywood. April 2012.

“Out of Death: Messianic Time and Money in Caravaggio’s Response to Paul. ”Western Political Science Conference. April 3, 2010.

“’My Divinity Opposes Me’: Socrates and the Political Decision.” American Political Science Association Conference. Toronto, Canada. Sept 5, 2009.

“Note to Self: Martin Amis and Monetary Suicide.” International Conference Landscapes of the Self: Identity, Discourse, Representation. Evora, Portugal. November 26, 2010.

“’Rob the Vast Sea’: Marx, Shakespeare, and the Belief in Money.” American Political Science Association Conference. Washington, DC. Sept. 4, 2010.

“Out of Death: Messianic Time and Money in Caravaggio’s Response to Paul. ”Western Political Science Association Conference. April 3, 2010.

“’My Divinity Opposes Me’: Socrates and the Political Decision.” American Political Science Association Conference. 2009. Toronto, Canada. Sept 5, 2009.

“Catechisms of Capitalism: Wittgenstein and Belief”. A Return to the Senses: Political Theory and the Sensorium. Trent University. May 7-9, 2009.

“’A Name is a Multitude of Situations’: Carl Schmitt on the Miracles, Messiahs, and Golems of Politics.” Western Political Science Association Conference. March 18-21, 2009.

“Love and Empire in Contemporary Appropriations of Paul.” American Political Science Association Conference. Boston, Ma. Aug. 30, 2008.

“Aesthetic of Strength: the Air Force Memorial and Virilio’s Last War.” Western Political Science Association Conference. San Diego, Ca. 2008.

“’A Wonderful Accusation’: Mourning and the Gods in Sophocles and Plato.” Northeastern Political Science Conference, Philadelphia, PA. November 2007.

"Diversity and Divinity: What the Gods Need." American Political Science Conference, Chicago, IL. September 2007.

“Belief, Belonging, and Violence.” Western Political Science Association Conference, Las Vegas, NV. March 2007.

“Self Destruction and the City of Others.” Language, Communication, Culture Conference, Lisbon, Portugal. November 2006.

“City of Ruins: Righteous Destruction in the Writings of Gore Vidal.” Northeastern Political Science Conference, Boston, MA. November 2006

“Where is Cordoba? Possession and Identity in ‘Ibn Rushd.”American Political Science Conference. Philadelphia, PA. September 2006.

“Dread the Arms with which Love is Armed: Love and Desire in Machiavelli.” Western Political Science Association Conference. Albuquerque, NM. March 2006.

“Auto-mobilizing Democracy: Movement and Surveillance in Henry Ford and Paul Virilio.” Submitted to APSA Conference 2005. Washington, DC.

“The Perfect Machine: Cars, Cows, and Consumption.” International Language, Communication, Culture Conference. Beja, Portugal. November 24-27, 2004.

“Cities on the Plain. ”Presented at the 2004 Western Political Science Conference. Portland. March 11, 2004.

“A Way of Using Power.” 9^th International Culture and Power Conference. Lisbon, Portugal. November 2003.

“Rain of Brimstone and Fire.” 8^th International Culture and Power Conference. Evora, Portugal. November 2002.

"Vision in Motion: Vision, Perception, and Subjectivity in Paul Virilio, Moholy-Nagy and Deleuze and Guattari." Chapter presented at the 2001 American Political Science Association Conference.

"Internet Publics: Concerning Democratic and Republican Thought in the Age of Cyber Communities." Presentation at the Law and Society Conference, July 2001.

"'Not a Thing Itself': René Girard, Jacques Lacan and Henry Ford on Desire,” Southwestern Political Science Association Meeting, March 2001.

"Affordable Desires: Citizenship and Commodity." American Political Science Association, September 1999.

Military Productions Panel, Chair, American Political Science Association, August1997.

"Expansive Perceptions: Roles of Education in American Political Consciousness during World War II." Northeast Political Science Association, November 1997.

"Basic Training: Roles of the Military in the Construction of American Subjectivity." American Political Science Association, August 1997.

"The Political Construction of Racism in the New Deal Era." Northeast Political Science Association, November 1996.

"Race and Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America." American Studies Association, November 1995.

"Birth, Sacrifice and the Nation: René Girard and Toni Morrison." Law and Society Association, May 1993.

PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS

January 24, 2015. Discussion with Mike Wiser (Producer of Frontline: United States of Secrets) on “Orwellian America” Government Transparency and Personal Privacy in the Digital Age. MLK Library. DC.

February 16, 2010. National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission. Comments on the proposed Eisenhower Memorial.

SERVICE

• Program Organizer for Western Political Science Conference. Interpretations and Methods Section. (2010).
• Director of GMU/AUR Program in Rome, Italy (2009).
• Advisor to Dissertation and Masters Projects
• University Pre-Law Advisor, George Mason University
• Alpha Omicron Pi, Faculty Advisor

AWARDS

• Dean's Teaching Fellowship Award for Politics of Assimilation, Johns Hopkins University, Fall 1995.
• Summer research award to examine race and the international presentation of the United States government through the United States Information Agency. Johns Hopkins University, Summer 1995.
• Villa Spellman, Fellowship to attend a three-month seminar sponsored by the History Department of The Johns Hopkins University in Florence, Italy, covering topics relating to theories of popular political culture, Fall 1993.
• Full scholarship plus stipend to attend The Johns Hopkins University, 1991-1999.

COURSES TAUGHT

• Introduction to Political Theory-Ancient, Modern, and Contemporary
• American Political Thought
• Democracy: Theory and Practice
• Envisioning Politics: Political Theory and Culture on the Italian Peninsula
• Democracy: Gift of the Gods/Child of Humanity
• Sword and the Word: Ancient Greek Political Thought
• American Political Culture

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

• American Political Science Association
• APSA Organized Sections: Foundations of Political Theory, Politics and History, and Conference on Film and Politics
• Western Political Science Association
• Popular Culture Association

REFERENCES

Available on Request.