Hilinski named Berlin Program for Advanced German & European Studies Dissertation Fellow
Hunter Hilinski, sixth-year UC Irvine political science Ph.D. candidate, has been named a Berlin Program for Advanced German & European Studies Dissertation Fellow. The honor includes research support for completion of his dissertation and a one-year appointment at Freie University Berlin in Germany. Below, the political theorist from Steelton, Pennsylvania reflects on his underlying interest in politics, his research and his UCI experience.
Q: Where did you go for your undergrad? What made you decide to pursue your current field of study - specifically at UCI? And what interests you most about your work?
A: I have a bachelor’s in political science and a bachelor’s in philosophy from Wilkes University. I have a master’s in political science from Colorado State University.
Honestly, I pursued my master’s because I was young and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. At Colorado State, I worked with David McIvor, who has become a lifelong mentor and friend of mine, and he encouraged me to pursue a Ph.D. and study critical theory. I was drawn to UCI because of the great professors here. It is rare for a university nowadays to have more than one theorist—if that—but UCI has an incredibly strong political theory community. The weather is nice, too!
I’m interested in political theory because it asks difficult—and probably unanswerable—questions. What is power? What does it mean to be free? Could life be different, or better? I don’t think politics can be boiled down to voting trends, electoral systems, or even the interpretation of laws. Political theory, as I understand it, is never neutral. It is a practice done to understand, challenge, and help change the power structures we often accept as natural, neutral, or taken-for-granted.
Q: Tell us more about your research. What problem will your findings help solve?
A: I study critical theory broadly, but am really interested in the Frankfurt School and radical Black political thought. I write about utopia and the imagination, particularly as it relates to social movements and the prospects for social change (and past failures to do so). The easiest way I sum up my work to students is by referencing an old quote sometimes attributed to Frederic Jameson, sometimes Slavoj Žižek, that it is “easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” I interrogate the historical narrativization of this sentiment, from 20th century critiques of German fascism to the United States’ present (and past) neo-fascistic tendencies.
I was awarded this fellowship in support of my dissertation completion. The focus of my application was my second chapter on Herbert Marcuse and the community organizing of the Black Panther Party.
Q: Where can your work be found if someone wanted to learn more about your research?
A: I’ve published a book review so far on a book called Elite Capture by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò. I also had an interview published while I was studying at Goethe University in Frankfurt last year.
I’m working on a few things at the moment that I hope to send out. If the options are “publish or perish,” as they say, I’m doing my best to avoid the latter!
Q: In addition to this current fellowship, what organizations, foundations, or others have funded your research while you’ve been at UCI?
A: I’ve been funded by the German academic exchange program, or DAAD. I’ve also received funding from the German Studies Association (GSA). UCI has an internal application process for the DAAD award, so I highly recommend that to anyone who wants to study in Germany or whose research is on German thinkers.
Q: What are some of your proudest accomplishments while at UCI?
A: The friends I’ve made. Love them all to bits.
Q: Who have been your faculty mentors while here, and what impact have they had on your graduate career?
A: My advisors Simone Chambers and Keith Topper are the reason I studied at UCI, and they’ve been amazing mentors. Two professors in the humanities, Gabriele Schwab and Kai Evers, have had a huge impact on my personal and professional development as well. Without the support of these four I don’t think I would have gotten this far in the program.
Q: When do you plan to complete your Ph.D.? What are your plans thereafter? How has UCI prepared you well for this role?
I plan to graduate in the Spring of 2027. I am pretty sure academia is not the space for me, but you never know. My passion for writing and teaching is still very strong, so I am planning to teach abroad in Germany and transition into political journalism.
Q: Any unique life experiences that have guided your educational journey? Give us some background.
Pennsylvania, and the Rust Belt more broadly, is known for its struggling post-industrial towns, particularly the coal regions in the northeast. I grew up in Steelton, a small steel town in central Pennsylvania that has suffered economically since steel production began to decline in the 1980s. Many of my older family members worked in the mill, and I was exposed to working-class struggles at a very young age. That experience shaped my desire to study politics.
It’s hard to understand the sense of loss that now defines places like my hometown. Phrases like “economic downturn” or “social dislocation” can sound really abstract, but they are lived realities suffused with feelings of anger, abandonment, and resentment, often leading to poverty, addiction, and mental health epidemics. Looking back, the memories of growing up there are a mix of fondness, nostalgia, and despair. For much of the country, these feelings linger and have taken on political form. Unsurprisingly, they now seem to empower the current brand of reactionary politics in the United States.
How do we mobilize that sense of loss differently? For me, this is the really crucial question for our politics. These experiences, in a place I’ll always love, have guided all of my work personally and professionally.
Q: Any other tidbits you’d like to share?
A: Your academic work is not the definition of who you are. The friendships and relationships you develop while studying are infinitely more valuable than any publication, test score, or line on a CV. Late library nights will happen, and I enjoyed them, but make sure they are always balanced by late nights with your friends.