Whatever happened to the black working class? Racism, legitimate grievance and social death
4 February 2025 11:00 until 12:30
University of Sussex Campus - Global Studies Resource Centre, Arts C / Zoom Webinar
Speaker: Professor Paul Warmington
Part of the series: CIE Research Café
Add this event to your calendar
Professor Paul Warmington, Centre for Global Learning, Coventry University
4 February, 11-12:30
GSRC, Arts C / Zoom Webinar (register to recieve the link)
"What, to paraphrase WEB Dubois, does it mean to be a legitimate grievance? The current English century has seen a resurgence of Powellite ethno-nationalism, wherein politicians, policy-makers and news media have constructed an ‘authentic white working-class’ in ways that necessitate the phenomenological disappearance of Black and Brown working-class people. This paper examines the discursive positioning of people of colour, not only as outside of (working) class identity, but often as the cause of white working class loss, as a legitimate (racial) grievance. In the aftermath of the riots of summer 2024, the paper explores contemporary rearticulations of discourses of race and class, the transatlantic discourse of the ‘left behind’ and the ‘social death’ implicit in disqualification from class identity."
We look forward to having you join us for this event! If you have any queries, please email cie@sussex.ac.uk.
You can also visit our website: Centre for International Education, University of Sussex.