2018 McNair Scholars Program Summer Research Symposium
Presentation Type
Open Access Paper
Keywords
Racism--United States;
Abstract
People think the election of Obama led to post racial America. Our research seeks to understand how collective memory of generations affects political understandings of the election of President Obama and President Trump. Using Bonilla-Silva’s lens of racism without racist and Berlant’s theory of cruel optimism we argue that post racial ideas are optimistic and hinder how individuals remember Americas racial past. Through interviewing Generation X and Millennials we find personal relationships factor into how individuals recall political events more than candidate stances. Decoupling politics from person creates a phenomenon where individuals assume voting does not have social implications.
Start Date
20-7-2018 10:00 AM
End Date
20-7-2018 12:00 PM
Faculty Advisor
Carissa Froyum
Department
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology
Department
McNair Scholars Program at UNI
Copyright
©2018 Dante Miller
File Format
application/pdf
Embargo Date
9-19-2018
Remembering Obama in the Era of Trump
People think the election of Obama led to post racial America. Our research seeks to understand how collective memory of generations affects political understandings of the election of President Obama and President Trump. Using Bonilla-Silva’s lens of racism without racist and Berlant’s theory of cruel optimism we argue that post racial ideas are optimistic and hinder how individuals remember Americas racial past. Through interviewing Generation X and Millennials we find personal relationships factor into how individuals recall political events more than candidate stances. Decoupling politics from person creates a phenomenon where individuals assume voting does not have social implications.
