Dr. Daniella Mascarenhas is an assistant professor of political science at Xavier University of Louisiana. Her research focuses on the political theory of punishment and civic education especially exploring these questions through the “Liberalism and Its Critics” movement within the subfield of theory. Her research often overlaps with work in legal studies and examines salient topics in criminal justice such as incarceration. During her stay in the Woods, Dr. Mascarenhas developed a manuscript that examines prison privatization in democratic Western law. This manuscript examines ideological responses to private incarceration by exploring multiple forms of liberalism and multiple critics of liberalism. When not researching or teaching, Dr. Mascarenhas enjoys competitively powerlifting, playing with her cat Lu, and cooking with her partner Ron.

“During my residency, I intended to start work on a chapter for a book that discusses the relationship between political discourse, theories of punishment, and penal practices like incarceration. I was able to produce a solidified outline and created an annotated bibliography of work that will contribute to this chapter. Additionally, I have been working on another chapter of this book as an independent article and was able to finalize a large section of analysis on civic republican punishment. The unstructured day allowed me to work on my research at my pace without interruption from classes or meetings. I also felt that the isolation of being in the woods contributed to fewer distractions. I often worked late into the early morning hours because the peace of the woods around me gave me the clearest head to be productive.” – Daniella Mascarenhas