Rich Benjamin

American cultural critic, anthropologist, and author
March 17, 2021 - 12:00pm
Whiteness, Conservatism, and Democracy in the Digital Age

Zoom Link: https://yale.zoom.us/j/99150066076

Photo credit: Sharon Schuster

About Rich Benjamin

Anthropologist Rich Benjamin has been studying conservatism and whiteness in America since before the 2008 financial crisis and first Obama-Biden Administration. He is the author of Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America (2009), selected as an Editor’s Choice by Booklist and The American Library Association. His analysis has appeared in The New York Times, New Yorker, and New York Review of Books, and he has been a commentator on NPR, PBS, MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News. 

In this talk, anthropologist and commentator Rich Benjamin will expand on his pioneering research in Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America (2009), analyzing the evolution of American conservatism towards Trumpism in the era of digital media. He will probe how certain manifestations of whiteness in our political culture, alongside the other developments, may threaten the future of democracy in America.

Photo credit: Sharon Schuster