The Institute for Humane Studies is inviting applications to “Race and Contemporary Political Life,” an online discussion series. This series will include discussions ranging from the contemporary framing of debates over race in both academic and political spheres to current and near-future developments in both discrimination and civil liberation. While the Classical Liberal tradition has always broadly supported equal rights without regard to race, we all face the hurdles of contemporary political polarization, the lack of a common language of or approach to racialized discourse, and the potential to blind ourselves from the discriminatory impacts of new technologies. This series will attempt to reposition Classical Liberalism on the forefront of these issues, seeking a way forward in our political lives that accomplishes equal justice for all both today and tomorrow.
Please note that participants are expected to acquire their own readings and will receive an honoraria of $125 plus a $30 book stipend per session.
March 22 – “Contemporary Conversations on Race”
- Noel Ignatiev. Treason to Whiteness is Loyalty to Humanity. Verso Books. 2022.
April 19 – “Race as a Source of Modern Folklore”
- Patricia Turner. Trash Talk: Anti-Obama Lore and Race in the Twenty-First Century. University of California Press. 2022.
May 24 – “Recentering Abolition”
- Derecka Purnell, Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom. Astra. 2022.
June 21 – “The Future of Equity”
- Ruha Benjamin. Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code. Polity. 2019.
