Victor Wolfenstein Political Theory Lecture Series
Latest Lecture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_uajgc8woM
List of Lectures
2025: Aziz Rana (Boston College), “The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them.”
2023: Melvin Rogers (Brown University), “James Baldwin on Racial Progress without Redemption.”
2021: Anna Spain Bradley (UCLA School of Law), “Reckoning with Global Racism.”
2020: Davide Panagia (UCLA Political Science), “Critical Political Theory Today: New Lessons from Victor Wolfenstein’s Writings.”
2018: Lance Ito (Los Angeles Superior Court), “Lessons Lost: The World War II Incarceration of Japanese Americans.”
2017: Corey Robin (Brooklyn College), “White State, Black Market: The Political Economy of Clarence Thomas.”
2016: Charles Mills (City University of New York) “Liberalism and Racial Justice.”
2015: Eddie S. Glaude Jr. (Princeton University), “The Limits of Black Liberalism and the 2016 Presidential Election.”
2014: Lawrie Balfour (University of Virginia), “Fugitives’ Democracy: The Political Worlds of Toni Morrison’s Essays and Fiction.”
2013: Robert Gooding-Williams (Yale University), “Autobiography, Political Hope, Racial Justice.”
About the series
The E. Victor Wolfenstein Political Theory Lecture Series continues the inspiring intellectual legacy of Eugene Victor Wolfenstein (1940 – 2010), faculty member of the UCLA Department of Political Science from 1965 to 2010. The purpose of the lecture series is to reflect upon theories of racial justice and freedom, particularly in relation to questions of democracy, citizenship, liberalism, and constitutionalism. This goal draws on insights from political theory, philosophy, and legal studies, as well as public affairs. Each lecture seeks to highlight the importance of critical thinking and sustained, rigorous academic inquiry in the advancement of contemporary racial justice.
The E. Victor Wolfenstein Political Theory Lecture is held annually at UCLA each Spring Quarter. All lectures are free and designed with a general audience in mind. Registration is required to attend.
