A Washington State University expert in the racial politics of culture has received a Core Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award for his new research examining xenophobia in Austria.
Richard King, a professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies, will teach cultural studies courses at the University of Graz in Austria next spring supported by a grant for €20,000 plus airfare (approximately $25,000) from the Fulbright Foundation. While there, he will study the ethnic, racial and religious differences emerging as waves of refugees enter Europe from the Middle East and North Africa amid ongoing concerns about terrorism and security.
Through his research project titled “The Cultural Politics of Difference: Articulating Race, Culture, and Nation in Contemporary Austria,” King will examine the ways in which “citizens grapple with the legacies of anti-Semitism, growing diversity, increased immigration, and resurgent populism,” he said.
“At the same time, my experiences in the classroom in Graz and inquiry beyond it will invigorate my broader teaching and scholarship, pushing both to be more global and comparative,” he said.