Left of Black | Stephanie Li on "Ugly White People" and White Self-Consciousness

Video Description

Dive Into the Archive: https://leftofblack.org/ How is whiteness contextualized throughout modern literature? Professor of African & African American Studies at Duke, Dr. Stephanie Li, argues that much of the twenty-first century is being shaped by a rising white consciousness due to the growing diversification of America’s political, social, and cultural institutions. The result is literature that more directly grapples with whiteness as its own construct rather than a wrongly assumed norm. Using the writings of Dave Eggers, Sarah Smarsh, current Vice President J. D. Vance, Claire Messud, Ben Lerner, and others, she traces the responses to white consciousness that breed shared manifestations of ugliness. She joins host Dr. Mark Anthony Neal to discuss her new book, "Ugly White People: Writing Whiteness in Contemporary America," published by University of Minnesota Press (@universityofminnesotapress1479). Find out more about Dr. Li here: https://scholars.duke.edu/person/stephanie.li Get a copy of her book here: https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517915742/ugly-white-people/ "Left of Black," Duke University's intrepid web series on Black Studies and the Black Arts, begins its milestone fifteenth season! "Left of Black" is the 2024 Gold Davey Award-winning and 2023 Webby Award-nominated series featuring interviews with Black Studies scholars, along with musicians and artists, created and hosted by the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African and African American Studies, Dr. Mark Anthony Neal. Directed, produced & edited by Eric Barstow, M.F.A.