Professor Dr. Desmond Jagmohan

Biography

Desmond Jagmohan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. His primary research focuses on the history of American and African American political thought, especially concerning the politics of the oppressed. Jagmohan's book, Dark Virtues: Booker T. Washington’s Tragic Realism (forthcoming from Princeton University Press), explores the complexities of Washington's political strategies under the oppressive Jim Crow regime. He also engages with the slave narratives of Harriet Jacobs to uncover the political and ethical dimensions of deception within African American political discourse. Jagmohan's scholarly contributions include articles in prestigious journals such as the Journal of Politics, Political Theory, and Perspectives on Politics. He has received the 2025 Social Science Distinguished Teaching Award at UC Berkeley and served as a Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Faculty Fellow at Princeton University. His academic journey includes teaching positions at Princeton and a strong educational background with an M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University.

Research Interests