November 5th and the Fate of American Optimism

Dr. Nyerges lecture places the contest of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in a broader historical dialectic of hope and fear, the primary affects animating US politics since Henry Luce announced “the American Century." With attention to the role of legacy and social media in the presentation of this year’s presidential race, he will demonstrate how symbols of fate and futurity converge on the polls in November. Using Lauren Berlant’s frame work of “cruel optimism,” the lecture asks us to consider what the question of who wins, and how they win, means for the sentimental underpinnings of the nation’s self-conception.