About Me

Kaden Paulson-Smith

Assistant Professor of Democracy & Justice Studies

University of Wisconsin, Green Bay

I am an Assistant Professor of Democracy & Justice Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. I am also a member of the Department of Political Science; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and Global Studies. My research and teaching crosscut critical carceral studies, law and society, African politics, and feminist and postcolonial studies. I received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a B.A. in Government from Smith College.

My current book project reframes contemporary policing as a colonial legacy. A recent wave of crackdowns on civil society and marginalized groups has puzzled scholars in many places around the world, although the role of the police is often overlooked or under historicized. I examine the colonial roots and postcolonial persistence of policing using the case of Tanzania to theorize the relationship between the police, state, and society. Without understanding the police as a colonial legacy, we remain ill-informed about the purpose and growth of policing over time.

I am grateful for the generous support of the African Studies Program, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Center for Research on Gender and Women, the Elections Research Center, the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, the Law and Society Fellows Program, and the Scott Kloeck-Jenson Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin—Madison.