Apr 28 2023 33 mins
General Summary: Professor Casey Kelly from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln discusses his article, “White Pain,” which describes how Donald Trump’s electoral victory in 2016 reproduced historical-racial schema since the pain of the white voters in the Rust belt was considered especially worthy of sympathy, in comparison to the pain of the black working class. Two undergraduate students at the University of Texas at Austin enquired about the concept of racialized pain in politics as well as the rhetorical construction of pain.
Detailed Summary: Podcast introduction & our personal introductions (00.00-01.43); Kelly’s summary of his article & main argument in “White Pain” (01.43-05.02); Kelly’s discussion of his audience- scholarly and general, and the impact he wanted his discussion to have (05.02-09.52); Kelly’s background, family, and upbringing and how this influenced his interest in conservative rhetoric and his perspective on this topic (09.52-12.37); Kelly’s discussion of his background in Women & Gender studies and how this influenced his interest and conclusions, specifically how masculinity is used in right wing politics to advance their agenda (12.37-15.52); Clip of Trump’s inaugural address that exemplifies Trumpism and white pain rhetoric (15.52-16.48); Kelly’s discussion of the white working class as a ‘signifier or figural placeholder’ and how this contributed to his arguments and findings (16.48-20.53); Kelly’s discussion of Franz Fanon’s historical racial schema as a ‘sliding scale’ and how we view humanness and what counts as a life (20.53-22.31); Kelly’s discussion of the ‘socializing of pain’ by Trump and how this played into right wing rhetoric surrounding the BLM movement and COVID (22.31-27.17); Kelly’s discussion of the upcoming (2024) election and trump’s indictment as a dilemma because of his appeal to victimhood vs. holding politicians accountable (27.17-29.24); Kelly discusses moving the discussion away from the ‘white’ working class, and how thinking of the working class as a whole will help Americans in this sector of the economy more than a racialized discussion would (29.24-31.51); Closing remarks, conclusion, and credits (31.51-33.27).
Scholarly Article Informing this Production: Kelly, Casey Ryan. “White Pain.” Quarterly Journal of Speech, 15 Apr. 2021, https://doi.org/10.1080/00335630.2021.1903537.
Credits: Under the guidance of Mark Longaker, this podcast was produced by Sydney Patterson, with the help of Hannah Garza, Nicholas Pao, Gracie Stark, and Arya Anagol. It features the voices of Casey Kelly, Sydney Patterson, and Hannah Garza. Additionally, music entitled “commonGround” by airtone and “conversation” by wolfrfe was adapted and incorporated into the podcast. It also features an audio clip from former President Trump’s inaugural address, which was pulled from a video posted by CNN in January of 2017 at: https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/20/politics/trump-inaugural-address/index.html
Detailed Summary: Podcast introduction & our personal introductions (00.00-01.43); Kelly’s summary of his article & main argument in “White Pain” (01.43-05.02); Kelly’s discussion of his audience- scholarly and general, and the impact he wanted his discussion to have (05.02-09.52); Kelly’s background, family, and upbringing and how this influenced his interest in conservative rhetoric and his perspective on this topic (09.52-12.37); Kelly’s discussion of his background in Women & Gender studies and how this influenced his interest and conclusions, specifically how masculinity is used in right wing politics to advance their agenda (12.37-15.52); Clip of Trump’s inaugural address that exemplifies Trumpism and white pain rhetoric (15.52-16.48); Kelly’s discussion of the white working class as a ‘signifier or figural placeholder’ and how this contributed to his arguments and findings (16.48-20.53); Kelly’s discussion of Franz Fanon’s historical racial schema as a ‘sliding scale’ and how we view humanness and what counts as a life (20.53-22.31); Kelly’s discussion of the ‘socializing of pain’ by Trump and how this played into right wing rhetoric surrounding the BLM movement and COVID (22.31-27.17); Kelly’s discussion of the upcoming (2024) election and trump’s indictment as a dilemma because of his appeal to victimhood vs. holding politicians accountable (27.17-29.24); Kelly discusses moving the discussion away from the ‘white’ working class, and how thinking of the working class as a whole will help Americans in this sector of the economy more than a racialized discussion would (29.24-31.51); Closing remarks, conclusion, and credits (31.51-33.27).
Scholarly Article Informing this Production: Kelly, Casey Ryan. “White Pain.” Quarterly Journal of Speech, 15 Apr. 2021, https://doi.org/10.1080/00335630.2021.1903537.
Credits: Under the guidance of Mark Longaker, this podcast was produced by Sydney Patterson, with the help of Hannah Garza, Nicholas Pao, Gracie Stark, and Arya Anagol. It features the voices of Casey Kelly, Sydney Patterson, and Hannah Garza. Additionally, music entitled “commonGround” by airtone and “conversation” by wolfrfe was adapted and incorporated into the podcast. It also features an audio clip from former President Trump’s inaugural address, which was pulled from a video posted by CNN in January of 2017 at: https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/20/politics/trump-inaugural-address/index.html