Rich Benjamin

Last updated

Rich Benjamin
Born
New York City, United States
Education Wesleyan University (BA)
Stanford University (PhD)
Occupation(s)Author, television commentator, cultural critic
Website richbenjamin.com

Rich Benjamin is an American cultural critic, anthropologist, and author. Benjamin is perhaps best known for the non-fiction book Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America . [1] [2] [3] He is also a lecturer and a public intellectual, who has discussed issues on NPR, PBS, CNN and MSNBC. [4] His writing appears in The New York Times , [5] The New Yorker , [6] The Guardian [7] and The New York Review of Books. [8]

Contents

Career

Benjamin's work focuses on US politics and culture, democracy, money, high finance, class, Blacks, Whites, Latinos, public policy, global cultural transformation, and demographic change. [6] [9]

Benjamin has been contributing essays to The New Yorker since 2017. [10]

Benjamin's book, Searching for Whitopia, was the subject of a TED Talk that has been viewed more than 2.8 million times. [11]  The book has received coverage on NPR [12] and MSNBC. [13]

In 2021 Benjamin delivered the Poynter Lecture at Yale Law School on "conservatism and Trumpism in the era of digital media—on how right-wing ideology, white fear, and the digital media ecosystem threaten democracy in America." [14]

He has presented his research on money, blockchain, and decentralization at a conference on technology. [15]

In 2021, he served as a Fellow at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. [16]

Benjamin was in Princeton, NJ in 2023 for his research and teaching post as the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow in American Studies at Princeton University. [17]

In 2023-2024, Benjamin served as a Harvard-Radcliffe Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. [18] There he continued research on his major field of interest, high finance—the social-scientific dimensions of quants, flash trading, hedge funds, extreme wealth, and risk. [19]  

Education

As a doctoral student at Stanford University, Benjamin studied with Professors Tim Lenoir and Terry Winograd, an adviser to the founders of Google.

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References

  1. ↑ James, Randy (October 12, 2009). "America's Booming White Enclaves". Time . Archived from the original on October 14, 2009. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
  2. ↑ Poon, Linda (August 12, 2015). "A Black Man's Journey Through 'Whitopia'". CityLab .
  3. ↑ "A Black Author's Journey Into American 'Whitopia'". NPR. October 6, 2009. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
  4. ↑ Melber, Ari (January 15, 2018), Playing to the GOP Base? , retrieved January 9, 2019
  5. ↑ Benjamin, Rich (2017), "The Ego in The Spectacle", The New York Times, retrieved August 15, 2019
  6. 1 2 Benjamin, Rich (April 4, 2018). "Gun Control and the Politics of White Paranoia". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  7. ↑ Benjamin, Rich (August 13, 2016). "Leading Writers on Donald Trump". The Guardian. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Rich Benjamin". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
  9. ↑ Benjamin, Rich (July 19, 2019). "Op-Ed: Trump's race-baiting hasn't produced many policy wins, but that was never the point". Los Angeles Times.
  10. ↑ The New Yorker (2022). "The New Yorker Contributors". The New Yorker .
  11. ↑ "Rich Benjamin". TED.
  12. ↑ NPR Radio Hour (November 20, 2015). "What is a Whitopia? And What Might It Mean to Live There?". NPR.org.
  13. ↑ MSNBC News (January 15, 2018). "How Does Race Play to Trump's Base?". YouTube.
  14. ↑ Yale University Law School (January 15, 2022). "Whiteness, Conservatism, and Democracy in the Digital Age, Rich Benjamin, Poynter Lecture".
  15. ↑ New_Public (July 1, 2022). "Live from the Decentralized Web". New_Public.
  16. ↑ New York Public Library (January 15, 2022). "Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars, NYPL".
  17. ↑ https://effroncenter.princeton.edu/opportunities/anschutz-distinguished-fellowship/past-fellows
  18. ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2023/07/07/the-harvard-radcliffe-institute-names-its-fellows-for-2023-24/
  19. ↑ https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/news-and-ideas/harvard-radcliffe-institute-announces-2023-2024-fellowship-class


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