The election of Donald Trump incontrovertibly rested on his support among white voters, including white female voters. Many commentators have more specifically argued that the rightward motion of the "white working class" in and beyond the U.S. holds the key to pushing the far right to electoral majorities and to swagger in committing racist attacks. David Roediger's longstanding work on the critical study of whiteness in U.S. history positions him to address the extent to which Trump represents a new departure or a logical result of long processes. Conversely, what new questions about the past of whiteness do the rise of a Trump regime enable us to pose? Brown Professor Tricia Rose will interview Roediger and facilitate the conversation. Audience participation is invited.

Free & open to the public. Book sale, signing, and light reception to follow. 

Speaker

David Roediger is the Foundation Professor of American Studies at the University of Kansas where he teaches and writes on race and class in the United States. Educated through college at public schools in Illinois, he completed doctoral work at Northwestern University. His recent books include "Seizing Freedom: Slave Emancipation and Liberty for All," "How Race Survived U.S. History," and (with Elizabeth Esch) "The Production of Difference." His older writings on race, immigration, and working-class history include "The Wages of Whiteness" and "Working Toward Whiteness."