Emily "Sal" Salamanca

I am a post-doctoral fellow at the Stanford Civic Initiative at Stanford University. I specialize in ancient political thought and its reception. My book manuscript, Legislating Luxury: Sumptuary Laws and the Republican Tradition, explores how republics have used sumptuary legislation, or anti-ostentation laws, to reconcile commitments to civic equality and virtue with persistent, often highly visible, inequalities of wealth.

Beyond this, my work delves into elite political strategies, the role of legal legitimacy in governance, and how wealth inequality intersects with legal and social frameworks. In pursuing these inquiries, I work to bridge ancient and modern political theory to better understand the dynamics of democratic self-rule. My work has appeared in Polis, American Political Thought, Philosophies, and Carte Italiane.

Before coming to Stanford, I received my Ph.D. in Politics at Princeton University and a dual B.A. in Political Science and Italian Studies from the University of Chicago.

I am originally from Lexington, Kentucky. My other interests include historical linguistics, etymology, as well as art history and I am an inveterate language learner (especially of Italian, Latin, Ancient Greek, and Korean)!