Celebrating the Winners of the Étienne Balibar Prize in Cultural and Political Thought for 2025
October 7, 2025 – Achievements
Please join us in congratulating the two winners of the second-annual Étienne Balibar Prize in Cultural and Political Thought.
The undergraduate essay chosen by the selection committee is Lily Kwak’s “Listening to Silence: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha as Medium of the Dead.” Lily’s essay will be printed in the undergraduate student journal The Gadfly.
And the winning graduate essays are Chandana Krishnegowda’s “Promiscuous Tongues: On the Matter of Language and Taste,” and Andrew Kahn’s “‘The Law of Primitive Accumulation’: Capitalism as Colonial ‘Plunder’ in the Work of Ōta Ryū.”
Congrats to Lily, Chandana, and Andrew!
And thank you to everyone who submitted an essay for consideration, as well as to our selection committee, which included both faculty members and students.
Keep an eye out for an announcement about next year’s prize!
