Making sense of authoritarianism: America First, MAGA, and the future according to Donald Trump - Professor Melissa Butcher

In this talk, based on her book The Trouble with Freedom: Love, Hate and America’s Future, Melissa Butcher examines how the idea of freedom, long regarded the very value that unites America, has become a source of deep political and cultural division, exacerbated by the current leadership.

Drawing on extensive travel, interviews and fieldwork across the United States, she explores how people from different backgrounds – across political, racial, religious and geographic divides – understand threats to their freedom and identity.

Rather than treating polarisation as simply a clash of ideologies, Butcher will discuss how political conflict often reflects personal experiences of social and cultural change.

She investigates debates surrounding democracy, belonging, justice, religion and public life, revealing how competing interpretations of freedom shape contemporary American politics. While documenting anger, mistrust and division, she also shares examples demonstrating empathy, dialogue and civic renewal.

This talk will offer a nuanced account of a nation struggling to reconcile competing visions of itself and its future.

About the speaker

Professor Melissa Butcher is a former journalist and Professor Emeritus of Social and Cultural Geography at Birkbeck, University of London.

Booking information

• Advance booking for this event is required. In order to book you will need an account on our website. If you already have an account you will be prompted to log in when you click 'book now'. Please create an account if you do not have one yet (you do not need to be a member of the Society to create an account).
  • Tickets are £5, and free for RGS-IBG members. Students can book a discounted ticket for £3 by entering the code STUDENTOX at checkout. Please book by midday on 18 November.
• We do not issue tickets (electronic or physical) for this event. Instead your name will be on a list at the door.

If you have any questions or require assistance with your booking, please email events@rgs.org

This event has been organised by the South East regional committee.

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