Arwa Awan is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Chicago. Her research interests are in the history of political thought, with a focus on French, Iranian, and Caribbean anti-colonial thought, as well as in Marxist social theory, race, and political economy. Her dissertation project examines receptions of Marx and Marxism in twentieth century anti-colonial thought by bringing to light a distinct approach to anticolonial critique that adopted alienation as its central idiom.

Arwa holds an MA in Political Science from the University of Chicago; her master's thesis received the University of Chicago's Joseph Cropsey Prize in Political Theory. She is currently a residential fellow at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture and recipient of a Provost Dissertation Completion Fellowship. Her research has been supported by Pozen Center for Human Rights, France Chicago Center, Nicholson Center for British Studies, and US Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships.