Crowd Control: Riots and Literary Prestige
An Art, Technology, & Culture Colloquium event
with Claire Grossman, Assistant Professor, English, Occidental College; Juliana Spahr, Poet, Scholar, and Frederick A. Rice Professor, English, Mills College at Northeastern University; and Stephanie Young, Director, Creative Writing Program, Mills College at Northeastern University
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Monday, March 8, 2027
5:00 — 6:30 PM
Eugene Jarvis Auditorium,
Grimes Engineering Center
RSVP here! Save the event to your bCal here!
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What if a poem could start a race riot — or stop one? Why was US literature cynical about protest for so long? How did it come to be that some writers are expected to write about racial experience while others are not?
These are some questions taken up in Crowd Control: The Racial Ordering of Literary Reward. Crowd Control uncovers the racial history of American literary “excellence” as it was invented to moderate, redirect, or cast doubt upon forceful Black uprisings and cross-racial solidarity from 1919 to the present. Across decades, circuits of funding helped to consolidate a close-knit network of white writers while subtly aiming to defang Black literature’s radical leanings. This racialized system of reward continues to shape the horizon for who gets to be a writer, giving rise to skeptical and suspicious images of prestige. Grossman, Spahr, and Young examine this history through archival materials, prizewinner data, and discussions of works including Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die,” fictional works about John Brown and Nat Turner, and Claudia Rankine’s “The White Card.”
About Claire Grossman
Claire Grossman specializes in multiethnic US literature with a focus on Asian American literature, critical race and ethnic studies, and political economy.
Her research examines how US literary and policy narratives after 1965 differently used suspense to figure insecure, changing, and racially ordered work. Recent writing with Juliana Spahr and Stephanie Young appears in American Literary History, The Cambridge Companion to the Essay, and Public Books.
About Juliana Spahr
Juliana Spahr is a poet and a scholar. Her most recent book of poetry is Ars Poeticas (2025), which received the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Her most recent book of scholarship is Du Bois’s Telegram: Literary Resistance and State Containment (2018).
About Stephanie Young
Stephanie Young directs the creative writing program at Mills College at Northeastern University and is a member of the Krupskaya Books editorial collective. Her books of poetry and prose include Pet Sounds (2019).
About Art, Technology, & Culture Colloquium
Founded by Professor Ken Goldberg in 1997, the Arts, Technology & Culture lecture series at BCNM is an internationally respected forum for creative ideas. Always free of charge and open to the public, the series has presented over 200 leading artists, writers, and critical thinkers who question assumptions and push boundaries at the forefront of art, technology, and culture.
Accessibility
BCNM events are free and open to the public. This event will be held in-person, on the UC Berkeley campus. We strive to meet all access and accommodation needs. Please contact (raphaelcohen [at] berkeley.edu) with requests or questions.
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