DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS

Home Department: Political Science

Charlotte Mencke is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in Political Science with a concentration in political theory. After her undergraduate studies at Sciences Po Paris and Freie Universität Berlin, she completed an MA at the University of Chicago with a thesis on wonder, thaumazein, in Arendt and Socrates before pursuing her doctorate at Northwestern. Her dissertation lies at the intersection of ancient Greek tragedy and contemporary European literature, focusing on the role of tragic figures in East German writer Christa Wolf’s critique of patriarchy, militarism, and state surveillance. She is a member of the Classics and Critical Theory clusters. Charlotte enjoys live music, playing violin, cooking, and reading novels in her free time.