Political analyst Michael Barone keynote speaker for 40th anniversary of biennial event
Scholars from around the nation devoted to the politics of the American South will gather in Charleston March 1-2 for The Citadel Symposium on Southern Politics 2018. Hosted on campus by the Department of Political Science, this year’s symposium is the 40th anniversary of the first meeting held in 1978. The presentations and panels begin at 10 a.m. on Thursday and conclude at 3:30 p.m. Friday. They are open to the public and all are on the second floor of The Citadel’s Mark Clark Hall.
Michael Barone, (photo right) a nationally known political and election analyst is the plenary speaker, outlining changes occurring in Southern politics in the early 21st century during a noon address Friday. Barone is a native of Michigan and graduated from Harvard College in 1966 and Yale Law School in 1969. He is a senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and co-author of The Almanac of American Politics, as well as a Fox News elections analyst.
The Citadel Southern Politics Symposium has inspired numerous publications over the years, including a series of books by political science faculty at The Citadel focusing on presidential elections in the South. In all, 15 books by Citadel political scientists have begun through the symposium.
The latest such book is an edited volume by Citadel political science professors Branwell DuBose Kapeluck, Ph.D., and Scott E. Buchanan, Ph.D. The book, The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be: The 2016 Presidential Election in the South will be available beginning in April. It details how the 2016 presidential election developed in the elven states that make up the South.
“The Citadel Symposium on Southern Politics is the only national conference dedicated to showcasing research exclusively on the politics of the American South,” said Jonathan Knuckey, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Central Florida. “For many scholars of southern politics it surely must top the list of conferences to attend, not just because of the subject matter but also because it is one of the most collegial political science conferences.”
Some of the panelists’ presentations include:
- Donald Trump, Roy Moore, and the Entrenchment of Blue Cat/Yellow Dog Republicans, by Artemesia Stanberry, North Carolina Central University
- The Internet and White Supremacy: The Use of Social Media by White Supremacist Groups to Increase Mainstream Salience, by Josh Billings and Rebecca Snyder, Florida Southern College
- Slavery, Reconstruction and Bureaucratic Capacity in the American South by William Gillespie, Kennesaw State University
- The Lasting Remnants of Jim Crow: Region and African American Turnout Overreporting, by Matthew C. Ellison, Texas Tech University
- The Republican Appeal to Working Class Whites in the South, by Charles Prysby, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
- The Rise of Southern Non-Denominational Churches and Their Impact on Race Relations, by Ali Ponder, College of Charleston
“The Citadel Symposium on Southern Politics is a conference that has truly shaped my academic career. If I had not been a regular attendee since my days as a graduate student then I’m certain my scholarship would have headed in another, less desirable and less interesting direction,” said Seth McKee, Ph.D. associate professor of political science, Texas Tech University.
The full list of panelists, their papers, and the complete symposium schedule is located here.
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