Samuel Burry

Samuel Burry is a DPhil (PhD) candidate in Politics at Oxford. Prior to Oxford, he completed an MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History and a BA in History and Politics at Cambridge, where he graduated with a starred first (first-class honours with distinction) and was awarded the University’s History and Politics Prize for best overall performance.

Sam is a historian of political thought. His research focuses on theories of protest, civil rights, and legal obligation in the United States since the 1960s. His doctoral thesis – After the Civil Rights Movement: the Politics of Protest and the Making of Critical Race Theory – offers the first full-length study of the emergence and development of critical race theory in the United States. The first three chapters address the early work of Derrick Bell, who is often depicted as the “founder” of critical race theory, whilst the next three chapters trace the broader development of critical race theory up to the turn of the twenty-first century. The thesis draws on untapped archival materials to contend that Bell developed theories of militant protest, Christian realism, and the material roots of racial oppression, all of which influenced many critical race theorists, and have been overlooked by prevalent associations of critical race theory with a secular “identity politics.”  

Sam’s other research interests include the development of theories of environmental protest and activism, twentieth-century American legal and intellectual history, and American political development (APD). He is also part of the editorial team for Anthroposphere: The Oxford Climate Review. His doctoral research is fully funded by Oxford’s Rothermere American Institute.