Katy Farr

Biography

Katy Farr is a second-year PhD student at the University of Notre Dame, studying American Politics and Political Theory. Katy’s main research interests are fascism, authoritarianism, gender, and democracy. She received her BA from Guilford College in 2024, with majors in Political Science and History, and a minor in Philosophy. Her undergraduate thesis, Defying a Fascist Future: Synthesizing a Stronger Antifascism Using British Intellectuals’ Interwar Experiences, is published and available to read on JSTOR. Katy’s thesis focused on the interwar writings of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, and G.D.H. and Margaret Cole, studying their attitudes towards burgeoning fascist parties, how those attitudes stemmed from their overall political perspectives, and comparing their relative abilities to identify fascism as a threat prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. Her thesis then synthesizes these views, learning from their successes and failures, to then apply the resulting political perspective to modern issues which could morph into fascist threats.

Areas of Interest

Fascism, Authoritarianism, Women and Gender, Political Behavior