Political theorist Corey Robin will deliver Carleton College’s weekly convocation address on Friday, Feb. 21, from 10:50-11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. In his presentation, titled, “The Racial Pessimism of Clarence Thomas,” he will discuss the racial views of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Robin is a political theorist at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, as well as the author of three books on political conservatism in the United States. His latest book, titled, “The Enigma of Clarence Thomas,” delves deeply into both Thomas’ biography and his jurisprudence, reading his Supreme Court opinions against the backdrop of his autobiographical and political writings and speeches.
Robin is also the author of “The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump” and “Fear: The History of a Political Idea,” which won the award for Best First Book in Political Theory from the American Political Science Association. Along with his books, his essays—on topics ranging from the politics of memory to the recent rise of democratic socialism on the left—have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, The London Review of Books, and other publications.
Robin has received multiple grants and awards, including fellowships from the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the American Council of Learned Societies. He has been the subject of profiles in The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Tablet Magazine. He has also appeared on National Public Radio, MSNBC, and other media outlets.
He received his AB from Princeton University and his PhD from Yale University.
Convocation is sponsored by Carleton College Events. For more information, including disability accommodations, call (507) 222-4308. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located at First and College Streets in Northfield.