Poet, Essayist Claudia Rankine to Address Struggle With Race
Will Speak About Her Book, Just Us
By Jeffery Day on October 7, 2020
"Claudia Rankine, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship recipient, National Book Critics Circle Award winner and National Book Award finalist, will read from and discuss her new book, Just Us: An American Conversation, at the University of California, Davis, on Wednesday, Nov. 4.
Published this month, Just Us combines poetry, essays, photographs, art, scholarship, analysis, invective and argument into a passionate and persuasive case about the complex mechanics of race in this country.
'Claudia’s new book, like much of her work, concentrates on the issue of ‘whiteness’ and race in the U.S. and globally' said Allison Coudert, of the Department of Religious Studies, who has known Rankine since the 1980s when Rankine was Coudert’s daughter’s college roommate.
'Since this has become such a major issue over the past years and affects all aspects of daily life, activity and thought, I thought we would find a great deal of support and interest, which we have.'
Coudert is an organizer with English professor Katie Peterson, director of the Creative Writing Program; and the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art.
Rankine’s visit is co-sponsored by 23 UC Davis departments, programs, centers and other entities.
The online reading and discussion is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4. Chancellor Gary S. May will give welcome remarks. Register here."