Stevenson, Guy. 2022. 'Understanding the Culture Wars: How the 60s Explain Our Divided Age (Visiting Lecture)'. In: UVA English Department Guest Lecture Series: Understanding the Culture Wars. Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR), University of Amsterdam, Netherlands 25 April 2023. [Conference or Workshop Item]

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Abstract or Description

Western politics of identity have evolved at a disorienting speed since 2016. After Donald Trump’s shockingly successful manipulation of anti-PC backlash, the online ‘culture wars’ have spiralled out of control and beyond all recognition. In this talk, Guy Stevenson takes us back to the 1960s, the cradle both of young hopes for a better world and the arguments that divide us, to explain their complexities. How have we arrived in a time where rancour around race, gender and sexuality permeates everything? How have we gone from Trump’s populist nationalist revolt against ‘wokeness’ to ugly battles between feminists and Trans activists? Sketching a selection of key 60s thinkers, writers and activists, Stevenson will consider the evolution of progressivism: from civil rights to black power to blm; from the messy unspeakable visions of the counterculture to the compassionate but proscriptive spirit of 2nd wave feminism; and from the unwitting spiritual elitism of the ‘Summer of Love’ to our interminably polarised social media landscape.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Lecture)
Keywords:	Culture Wars, 1960s Counterculture, Wokeness, Cancel Culture, Civil Rights, Black Lives Matter (BLM)
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	English and Comparative Literature
Dates:	Date Event 16 November 2022 Accepted 25 April 2023 Completed
Event Location:	Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR), University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Date range:	25 April 2023
Item ID:	36734
Date Deposited:	13 Jun 2024 11:53
Last Modified:	13 Jun 2024 12:00
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/36734

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