Originally broadcast at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday, July 21, 2021.

Katherine Cramer is the Natalie C. Holton Chair of Letters & Science and a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a visiting professor with the Center for Constructive Communication at the MIT Media Lab. Her work focuses on the way people in the United States make sense of politics, their connections to each other and to their governments — expertise she will bring to the Chautauqua Lecture Series with a discussion on rural consciousness, modern democracy, and how we might better address division and resentment at a community and national level.

Cramer is known for her innovative approach to the study of public opinion. Her award-winning book, The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker, brought to light rural resentment toward cities and its implications for contemporary politics, and was a go-to source for understanding votes in the 2016 presidential election. Other books include Talking about Race: Community Dialogues and the Politics of Difference and Talking about Politics: Informal Groups and Social Identity in American Life.

She is one of the founders of the Local Voices Network, a network for constructive communication that is operated by Cortico, a nonprofit partner of the Center for Constructive Communication. She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan.

This program is made possible by the Margaret Miller Newman Lectureship Fund and the Dr. Robert R. Hesse Lectureship.

About Chautauqua Institution: Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. As a community, we celebrate, encourage and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue. CHQ Assembly is the online expression of Chautauqua Institution's mission.