Winant Lecture in American Government 2025 - recording now available

A recording of the 2025 Winant Lecture in American Government is now available on the RAI YouTube channel.

This year's lecture, entitled The End of Black Politics, was delivered by Kimberley Johnson (Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University and Winant Visiting Professor of American Government at Oxford).

The U.S. 2024 election may mark the beginning of a new political era, with right-wing populism gaining unexpected support from racial minorities, especially younger men. This shift contributed to the defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris, a Black/mixed race woman. The potential rise of a multicultural conservative populism challenges the political alignments and understandings of 20th-century Black politics, particularly those shaped by the Civil Rights Movement. The talk outlines the contours of Black political development in the 20th century, with a focus on how urban politics became a critical platform for the realization and advancement of Black political power, while also emerging as an ‘urban blue wall’ for the Democratic party. The talk proposes new perspectives on how Black politics might evolve in a time of increased polarization, rising inequality, changing socio-spatial demographics, and institutional instability.