Saturday, 2 December 2023 Contact us

You are Currently viewing Past Events, Click here to see upcoming 2024 Events

See 2024 Events
Isabel-wilkerson
Isabel Wilkerson

American Lecture. Caste: Exposing America’s Invisible Scaffolding

Isabel Wilkerson

Saturday, 1 April 2023

4:00pm

1 hour

Sheldonian Theatre

£7 - £12.50

Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and writer Isabel Wilkerson talks about Caste, her international bestselling exploration of the hidden and arbitrary structures of power at work in our societies, that still divide us today.

Beyond race and class lies a caste system that shapes people’s lives, behaviour, and a nation’s fate. In a powerful talk that requires audiences to reimagine America’s past and present, Wilkerson spotlights the insidious undertow of caste and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture, politics, and everyday lives. She explores the pillars that underlie caste systems across civilisations, underscoring these shadow structures with deeply researched human narratives, before proposing how we can move beyond these artificial and destructive human divisions and toward hope in our common humanity.

‘I don’t think there has ever been another pick that has been as vital as this one . . . a must-read for humanity’ Oprah Winfrey Book Club Selection

‘This book is a prayer. A prayer for this country, a prayer for humanity and a prayer for the planet.’ Isabel Wilkerson

Wilkerson won the Pulitzer Prize for The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. Caste spent 55 weeks on the US bestseller lists and has sold more than 1.5 million copies. Bill Clinton said the book “changed my mind” and it has been recommended by Barack Obama. Wilkerson is a former Chicago bureau chief of the New York Times and has taught at Princeton, Emory, and Boston Universities.

This event is the festival’s inaugural American Lecture.

Part of the festival’s programme of American literature and culture.

University of Oxford Netflix European Union Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Spanish Embassy Event generously supported by the Spanish Embassy Cervantes Institute, London Republic of Panama Event generously supported by Republic of Panama Italian Embassy Supporter of Italian programme The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner International Literary Properties Festival literary heritage partner Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Sponsor of the festival crime fiction programme Jim Mellon John Roberts Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture Tim and Marion Stevenson Martin and Elise Becket Smith Miles Young Masumi and Jonathan Dobson Pank Koria CEO of Project People Carole and John Allen David Isaac Jill Dunsmore Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Anna Hunter Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival New College Worcester College Worcester College Lincoln College Lincoln College St Cross College St Cross College Trinity College Trinity College Critchleys Accountants to the festival Pasture to Plate Compassion in World Farming Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Jewish Book Week Partner of Jewish programme Foodbuy Thje Menu Partners Institute of Hospitality Project People Royal Academy of Arts British Academy Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Oxford United Football Club Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Conference Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates CAV Oxford The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford University Images Oxford University Images Oxford University Department for Continuing Education Oxford Brookes University OX magazine Ox in a Box K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders La Leccia Literature Ireland Confucius Institute Pusey House James Currey Society
 

The Oxford Literary Festival sponsors, donors & partners

University of Oxford Netflix European Union Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Spanish Embassy Event generously supported by the Spanish Embassy Cervantes Institute, London Republic of Panama Event generously supported by Republic of Panama Italian Embassy Supporter of Italian programme The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner International Literary Properties Festival literary heritage partner Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Sponsor of the festival crime fiction programme Jim Mellon John Roberts Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture Tim and Marion Stevenson Martin and Elise Becket Smith Miles Young Masumi and Jonathan Dobson Pank Koria CEO of Project People Carole and John Allen David Isaac Jill Dunsmore Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Anna Hunter Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival New College Worcester College Worcester College Lincoln College Lincoln College St Cross College St Cross College Trinity College Trinity College Critchleys Accountants to the festival Pasture to Plate Compassion in World Farming Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Jewish Book Week Partner of Jewish programme Foodbuy Thje Menu Partners Institute of Hospitality Project People Royal Academy of Arts British Academy Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Oxford United Football Club Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Conference Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates CAV Oxford The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford University Images Oxford University Images Oxford University Department for Continuing Education Oxford Brookes University OX magazine Ox in a Box K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders La Leccia Literature Ireland Confucius Institute Pusey House James Currey Society