Levi Brown

Political Socialization and Radicalization

Academic Advisor: Dean Snyder
Co-op Advisor: Richard Kraince

Co-ops: Oral History of the Liberal Arts Digital Archives Coordinator

Languages: Spanish
City:  Yellow springs

Email: lbrown@antiochcollege.edu

 

Intersections of Race and Class in Rural America

This project is a literature review on the intersection of race and class in rural America. How has US rural history contributed to our current moment of political polarization? The literature review centers on three books that help us answer this question. The first, Nancy Isenberg’s White Trash: 400 Years of Untold History of Class in America is a long retelling of US history explaining how the construction of “white” served as a means of maintaining political authority and legitimating prevailing social class structures. The second, John Gaventa’s Power & Powerlessness uses Appalachia as a case study to explain how hierarchies of power were historically maintained by excluding the rural working class and poor from political agenda-setting and ascribing ideals and values that disable them from collectively resolving their grievances. The third, J.D Vance's Hillbilly Elegy is a memoir that illustrates these ideas and values – specifically, the boot-strap narratives that mythologizes the “self-made individual” while blaming community members for their woes. The final product is an essay on the importance of intersectionality when combating systemic oppression from all angles: don’t ever punch down, only up.