Roberto Sirvent

Roberto Sirvent is a political theorist who studies race, law, and social movements. He also works at the intersection of ethics, philosophy of religion, and science and technology studies (STS). He received an MA from Johns Hopkins University, a JD from the University of Maryland School of Law, and a PhD from the London School of Theology (UK). Before joining Yale’s American Studies Program, Roberto taught at Harvard Medical School, Barnard College, Pomona College, Scripps College, and Hope International University (HIU). At HIU, Roberto served as Professor of Political and Social Ethics, Chair of the Social Sciences Department, and Director of the Center for Public Leadership.

Roberto is co-author, with Danny Haiphong, of the book, American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People’s History of Fake News―From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror (Skyhorse, 2019).  With Ashon Crawley, Roberto co-edited the book, Spirituality and Abolition (Common Notions Press, 2023). His other co-edited books include Kierkegaard and Political Theology (Pickwick, 2018), Theologies of Failure (Cascade, 2019), and Decolonial Christianities: Latinx and Latin American Perspectives (Palgrave, 2019). Roberto serves as a Contributing Editor of Parapraxis Magazine and has co-edited special issues of the Journal of Sport and Social Issues and the Journal of Disability and the Global South.  He has published on topics ranging from presidential politics and critical pedagogy to sexual ethics and the cultural politics of sports. 

Roberto’s primary research considers how Marxist, psychoanalytic, and anarchist frameworks can inform debates in bioethics, public health, and environmental justice.  Central to his scholarly interests are the ways that colonialism, imperialism, and US militarism fuel various health injustices and ecological crises around the globe. He is currently working on a paper examining the libidinal economy of sports and how attending to the “psychopolitics of race” can help address recent controversies in sports and bioethics. Roberto is also writing a community resource guide that examines collective practices of queer revolt and rebellion in comics, graphic novels, and animated TV.  The resource guide is part of a larger project that considers how university educators can learn from radical models of K-12 progressive education to create more cooperative, non-hierarchical, and anti-authoritarian learning environments.