Willie Webb

Willie Webb is a Ph.D. candidate in the Government Department at Harvard University. He is a native of the Lowcountry Sea Islands of South Carolina (Port Royal Island of Beaufort, SC); and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Clemson University, and a Master’s degree in Government (Political Science) from Harvard University.

Willie’s research sits at the intersection of Race and Ethnic Politics and Political Theory. He studies the evolution of political cultures across generations within marginalized communities, and how contemporary political theories respond to said evolution. His dissertation examines how different generations of Black Americans engage with Black political representation — how they think about it, feel about it, talk about it, and experience it — and whether established theories of political representation account for generational evolution.

Willie has been a research assistant for the Democratic Knowledge Project at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, contributing to civic education curriculum development in Cambridge Public Schools. He has also been a research assistant for the Guinier Project at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School, contributing to research focused on the potential of alternative electoral systems to improve political representation for minority groups.