UNE Center for Global Humanities presents “Broke and Patriotic in America”

Why are the poorest Americans among the most patriotic? The social benefits they receive are worse than those afforded citizens of other Western nations, and studies show that the American Dream of upward mobility is largely a myth. So why do impoverished Americans love the country more ardently than rich Americans do? And why are they significantly more patriotic than the poor citizens of other nations? 

An upcoming lecture at the University of New England’s Center for Global Humanities will take up these questions and others when scholar Francesco Duina presents “Broke and Patriotic in America” on Monday, December 10 at 6:00 p.m. at the WCHP Lecture Hall in Parker Pavilion on the UNE Portland Campus.       

Duina will draw from his critically-acclaimed book, Broke and Patriotic: Why Poor Americans Love Their Country, which won a 2018 Independent Book Publisher Award. He will discuss the process of visiting bus stations, laundromats, homeless shelters, public libraries, and other sites to hear poor Americans explain their feelings for the country. And he will share the insight he gleaned into the American spirit, the American dream, and the American people.

Duina serves as a professor of sociology at Bates College in Maine, as well as an honorary professor of sociology at the University of British Columbia in Canada. Since earning his Ph.D. from Harvard University, he has published widely on economic, political and cultural sociology. In addition to Broke and Patriotic, he has authored such works as Winning: Reflections on an American Obsession, The Social Construction of Free Trade, and Institutions and the Economy. 

This will be the sixth and final lecture of the fall semester at the Center for Global Humanities, where events are always free, open to the public, and streamed live online.