Welcome! My name is Estelle E. Brun and I am a PhD Candidate in Political Science at Boston University and a Graduate Student Affiliate at the Center for Innovation in Social Science. My scholarly research sits at the intersection of comparative politics and political theory, focusing on right-wing populism, nationalism and political behavior.
My dissertation and book project, Who Remembers Best? The Politics of Memory in the New Era of Right-Wing Populism, seeks to understand how mainstream and right-wing populist parties (re)construct the past in the context of “memory battles” (public debates about historical narratives). Through the sub-national cases of South Carolina (United States) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (France), it combines elite interviews, ethnography and survey methods.
At Boston University, I was previously a teaching fellow for political theory and comparative politics courses, and I served as an instructor of record for the Introduction to Comparative Politics course in the summer of 2025. In the spring of 2027, I will teach a graduate-level seminar on European Politics and Culture.
Prior to joining Boston University, I obtained an MSc in Comparative Politics with Distinction from the London School of Economics (LSE) and worked for two years at the Institut de relations internationales et stratégiques (IRIS), a Paris-based think tank.
I grew up in a French town by the Mediterranean Sea and I am a loyal fan of OGC Nice, my local football team, and Les Bleus, France’s national football team.
