Presented By: Institute for the Humanities
Hear, Here: Humanities Up Close
"Race, Memory, and the Invention of Small-town America," with Stephen Berrey
With the “Hear, Here” series, we aim to facilitate conversations around new research in the humanities. Faculty fellows at the Institute for the Humanities will discuss a part of their current project in a short talk followed by a Q & A session.
About this talk: “Small-town America” has become shorthand for a largely white place, not only in terms of demographics but also related to politics, culture, and religion. This imagining of small towns as white emerged in the 1920s. Focusing on three small towns, this talk shows how stories about the past, community theatrical productions, and everyday conversations about race came to shape the racial identity of small-town America, a place that was never as white as imagined.
Stephen Berrey is a 2024-25 Helmut F. Stern Faculty Fellow at the Institute for the Humanities and Associate Professor of American Culture and History.
About this talk: “Small-town America” has become shorthand for a largely white place, not only in terms of demographics but also related to politics, culture, and religion. This imagining of small towns as white emerged in the 1920s. Focusing on three small towns, this talk shows how stories about the past, community theatrical productions, and everyday conversations about race came to shape the racial identity of small-town America, a place that was never as white as imagined.
Stephen Berrey is a 2024-25 Helmut F. Stern Faculty Fellow at the Institute for the Humanities and Associate Professor of American Culture and History.
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