Ann Heffernan

Ann Heffernan is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Michigan. Her work is situation at the intersection of contemporary political theory, feminist theory, and disability studies and has been published or is forthcoming in The Annual Review of Political Science and the American Political Science Review. Her current book project, Conditions of Citizenship, brings into view the significance of disability in mediating the relationship between citizens and the American state. Drawing upon historical and contemporary examples—among them the rise of waged labor, the welfare rights movement, and climate change—she shows how the boundaries and defining features of political membership are stabilized and recast in and through disability. Where existing research emphasizes the exclusionary ground of liberal citizenship and its consequences for people with disabilities, she argues that disability as a concept, legal category, and medical condition has become a crucial mechanism through which to negotiate transformations in the obligations and entitlements of citizenship.

Professor Heffernan teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in modern and contemporary political theory, feminist theory, disability studies, citizenship, and work. In Winter 2026 she will be teaching POLSCI 304: Disability a Democratic Dilemma, and POLSCI 401: Feminist Political Thought.

Fields of Study:

• Democratic Theory
• Feminist Theory
• Disability Studies

Subfield:

• Political Theory