Jeremy Boo

I study how political systems structure belonging through material and affective means — and how, once formed, that belonging reshapes and reinforces the systems that produced it. My research examines how national ideologies and regimes of recognition define the terms of inclusion, and how those terms, in turn, generate political loyalty and shape the claims citizens make on the state.

Bridging theories of nationalism, identity, and recognition across comparative and American politics, I examine how marginalized groups negotiate their relationship to the state: from clientelist ties in Southeast Asia, to immigration preferences among Latino Americans, to the historical memory of racialized violence among Black Americans.

Taken together, this work shows that political systems do not merely allocate resources — they confer recognition, structure proximity, and distribute belonging itself.