Coffee Hour with Laura Pulido

Enjoy a free catered lunch, a presentation by Laura Pulido with the Department of Indigenous, Race & Ethnic Studies and Geography at the University of Oregon, and conversation with students, staff, and faculty from the GES Department. Lunch will be available starting at 12:30 p.m. and Dr. Pulido will present from 1-2 p.m. Those joining us for lunch must pre-register. Please RSVP using the event registration link above by the end of the day on Monday, March 25th.  

In this talk Dr. Pulido considers the relationship between U.S. white nationalism and the Republican Party’s (GOP) record of climate obstruction. Though the fossil fuel industry’s campaign of disinformation has been well-documented, less understood are the politicians who do its bidding. While many assume the state is simply implementing the desires of the fossil fuel industry, what is called, regulatory capture, this assumes a nonracial state. Pulido argues that regulatory capture does not fully explain the current GOP’s commitment to blocking climate action. Instead, she suggests that "surplus" white nationalism has contributed to both climate denial and obstruction. Pulido defines surplus white nationalism as the excessive energy and power of white nationalism that cannot be contained or selectively controlled. Because it spills over onto seemingly unrelated areas with sometimes unanticipated consequences - it is surplus. By focusing on three historical moments - the Tea Party movement (2009-15), the Trump Presidency (2015-19), and the War on Wokeness (2021-present), Pulido shows how surplus white nationalism impacts climate obstruction.

Laura Pulido is the Collins Chair and Professor of Indigenous, Race, & Ethnic Studies and Geography at the University of Oregon where she studies race, environmental justice, and cultural memory. She has written or edited seven books, including Environmentalism and Economic Justice: Two Chicano Struggles in the Southwest; and Black, Brown, Yellow and Left: Radical Activism in Los Angeles; A People’s Guide to Los Angeles (with Laura Barraclough and Wendy Cheng). She has received numerous honors from the Association of American Geographers, including the Distinguished Scholarship Honors; Presidential Achievement Award; Meridian Book Award for Outstanding Scholarly book in Geography; Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography; the Harold Rose Anti-Racism Award; and Ford and Guggenheim fellowships. Currently, she is appointed as a Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics in Geography and Environment.