Rich Benjamin
{{Short description|American cultural critic, anthropologist, and author}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}
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| name = Rich Benjamin
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| birth_place = New York City, United States
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| education = Wesleyan University (BA)
Stanford University (PhD)
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| occupation = Author, television commentator, cultural critic
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| website = {{URL|richbenjamin.com}}
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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.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1929729,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091014153552/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1929729,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 14, 2009|title=America's Booming White Enclaves|magazine=Time|author=James, Randy|date=October 12, 2009|access-date=2012-04-10}}{{cite news|title=A Black Man's Journey Through 'Whitopia'|author=Poon, Linda|date=August 12, 2015|url=http://www.citylab.com/housing/2015/08/a-black-mans-journey-through-whitopia/401108/|work=CityLab}}{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113543979|date=October 6, 2009|access-date=2012-04-10|publisher=NPR|title=A Black Author's Journey Into American 'Whitopia'}}
He is also a lecturer and a public intellectual, who has discussed issues on NPR, PBS, CNN and MSNBC.{{citation|last=Melber|first=Ari|title=Playing to the GOP Base?|date=January 15, 2018|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lotlHyERT2U|access-date=2019-01-09}} His writing appears in The New York Times,{{citation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/opinion/presidential-inauguration-2017/the-ego-in-the-spectacle?smid=pl-share|title=The Ego in The Spectacle|last=Benjamin|first=Rich|date=2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-08-15}} The New Yorker,{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/gun-control-white-paranoia-and-the-death-of-martin-luther-king-jr|title=Gun Control and the Politics of White Paranoia|last=Benjamin|first=Rich|date=April 4, 2018|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=2019-03-02}} The Guardian{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/12/donald-trump-understanding-american-phenomenon|title=Leading Writers on Donald Trump|last=Benjamin|first=Rich|date=August 13, 2016|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-07-15}} and The New York Review of Books.{{Cite web |title=Rich Benjamin |url=https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/rich-benjamin/ |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=The New York Review of Books |language=en}}
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.{{cite web |author=Benjamin, Rich |date=July 19, 2019 |title=Op-Ed: Trump's race-baiting hasn't produced many policy wins, but that was never the point |url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-07-18/trump-racism-xenophobia-immigration-democrats |work=Los Angeles Times}}
Benjamin has been contributing essays to The New Yorker since 2017.{{Cite magazine|last=The New Yorker|date=2022|title=The New Yorker Contributors|magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/rich-benjamin}}
Benjamin's book, Searching for Whitopia, was the subject of a TED Talk that has been viewed more than 2.8 million times.{{cite web|title=Rich Benjamin|url=https://www.ted.com/speakers/rich_benjamin|publisher=TED}} The book has received coverage on NPR{{Cite web|last=NPR Radio Hour|date=November 20, 2015|title=What is a Whitopia? And What Might It Mean to Live There?|website=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/2015/11/20/455909004/what-is-a-whitopia-and-what-might-it-mean-to-live-there}} and MSNBC.{{Cite web|last=MSNBC News|date=January 15, 2018|title=How Does Race Play to Trump's Base?|website=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lotlHyERT2U}}
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."{{Cite web|last=Yale University Law School|date=January 15, 2022|title=Whiteness, Conservatism, and Democracy in the Digital Age, Rich Benjamin, Poynter Lecture|url=https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/yale-law-school-events/whiteness-conservatism-and-democracy-digital-age-rich-benjamin-poynter-lecture}}
He has presented his research on money, blockchain, and decentralization at a conference on technology.{{Cite web |last=New_Public |date=July 1, 2022 |title=Live from the Decentralized Web |url=https://newpublic.substack.com/p/-live-from-the-decentralized-web#%C2%A7dont-miss-this-lineup |website=New_Public}}
In 2021, he served as a Fellow at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library.{{Cite web|last=New York Public Library|date=January 15, 2022|title=Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars, NYPL|url=https://www.nypl.org/blog/2021/04/05/cullman-fellows}}
Benjamin was in Princeton, NJ in 2023 for his research and teaching post as the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow in American Studies at Princeton University.{{Cite web |title=Past Anschutz Distinguished Fellows |url=https://effroncenter.princeton.edu/opportunities/anschutz-distinguished-fellowship/past-fellows |access-date=2024-06-27 |website=Effron Center for the Study of America |language=en}}
In 2023-2024, Benjamin served as a Harvard-Radcliffe Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.{{Cite web |last=Nietzel |first=Michael T. |title=The Harvard Radcliffe Institute Has Named Its Fellows For 2023-24 |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2023/07/07/the-harvard-radcliffe-institute-names-its-fellows-for-2023-24/ |access-date=2024-06-27 |website=Forbes |language=en}} 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.{{Cite web |title=Harvard Radcliffe Institute Announces 2023–2024 Fellowship Class |url=https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/news-and-ideas/harvard-radcliffe-institute-announces-2023-2024-fellowship-class |access-date=2024-06-27 |website=Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University |language=en}}
In 2025, Benjamin published Talk to Me,{{cite news|title=His Grandfather Was Haiti’s President for 19 Days. The Trauma Endures.|author=Fountain, Ben|date=February 11, 2025|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/books/review/talk-to-me-rich-benjamin.html/|work=The New York Times|access-date=2025-03-07}} investigating his family's harrowing past -- including the coup d'etat which ended his grandfather's brief term as Haiti’s president -- to better understand the troubles that continued to plague them.
Education
As a doctoral student at Stanford University, Benjamin studied with Professors Tim Lenoir and Terry Winograd, an adviser to the founders of Google.
Personal life
Benjamin is the grandson of Haiti’s former president Daniel Fignolé.{{Cite news |title=A Family Forged By Haiti's Coup : Fresh Air |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/02/20/1232637583/rich-benjamin-haiti-coup |access-date=2025-03-05 |work=NPR |language=en}}
References
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External links
- {{official|http://www.richbenjamin.com}}
- {{C-SPAN|9265904}}
- {{TED speaker}}
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Category:American male journalists
Category:African-American writers
Category:American political writers
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century African-American people
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