New Faculty: Chad Córdova

Chad Córdova

Assistant Professor, Romance Studies 

Academic focus:

French literature and philosophy (ca. 1500–1800), continental philosophy, deconstruction, ecological thought, posthumanism and history of medicine. My work studies the affinities between the purportedly “old” or “obsolete” and the supposedly “relevant” or “new.” 

Current research project: 

I’m currently working on a somewhat experimental book on Michel de Montaigne. It tries to think through the strange contemporaneity of his “Essays” (1580–95), their modes of resonance with new currents in posthumanist philosophy, anthropology, ecological thought, indigenous studies and other fields. I’m also working on a project that aims to rethink the history of what we now call “depression.”

Previous positions:

• Assistant Professor, French and Italian, Emory University, 2018–24

Academic background: 

• Ph.D., French, Princeton University, 2018
• M.A., French, Princeton University, 2013
• B.A., Art history/French, New York University, 2010

Last book read:

“Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology” by David Graeber

In your own time/when not working:

Exercising, practicing guitar, hiking, playing with my two cats, working when I should be resting, reading about old growth forests. Did I mention my cats?

Courses you’re most looking forward to teaching:

I’m especially looking forward to teaching a seminar on the history of French and Francophone ideas about nature and nonhuman beings as well as an undergraduate course on the history of concepts, arts and therapies of melancholy and depression, from the Greeks to social media. 

What most excites you about Cornell:

The rich and dynamic intellectual community on campus and in my department. But also the ease of disappearing into the woods whenever necessary.