Residents Event Calendar

Our speaker for our May 9 Women’s Circle Breakfast is Ben Railton, Professor and Coordinator of American Studies at Fitchburg State University. The title of his presentation is “Exclusion and Inclusion: The Battle to Define America.” From our origin point, through every historical period, and up to our contested present moment, two competing yet interconnected definitions of America have battled to determine who we are. This talk will trace these exclusionary and inclusive visions of American identity across a series of compelling historical stories and figures, arguing that we cannot understand 21st Century America without remembering this foundational and ongoing battle. Professor Railton has been at FSU for 13 years and has taught numerous courses in American Literature and Studies at both the undergraduate and graduate level. He has received two of FSU’s major faculty awards, the 2014 Faculty Research and Scholarship Award and the 2015 Vincent J. Mara Teaching Appreciation Award.