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Thursday, 4 July - Thursday, 4 July 2019
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm AEST
In 2019 The United States was more divided than at any time since the Vietnam War era. Society was fracturing along crude identity lines. Anger and grievance are ascendant. Obsession with common enemies overrides concern for the common good. According to some experts, America was at the crossroads.
As our 2019 Helen Hughes lecturer, Michael Ondaatje surveyed the increasingly tribal political landscape of modern America. Paying special attention to the toxic racial politics of the Trump era, explain why the dream of a “post-racial” society has died, and how it might be revived.
Professor Michael Ondaatje is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Arts and Academic Culture), and Professor of American History, at Australian Catholic University.
Dr Jeremy Sammut, former senior research fellow and the director of the Culture, Prosperity and Civil Society Program at the Centre for Independent Studies.