The story of American democracy is often told as a history of movement towards enfranchisement and justice—increased access for more kinds of Americans to more rights, more choices—more life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Simons Public Humanities Fellow Maya Gurantz asks: What if this counter-subversive moment we’re living through—marked by rising proto-fascist politics, increasingly authoritarian controls over education and the body, and raging backlashes against the March for Black Lives and #MeToo—what if that was always American democracy?

In this talk, Gurantz will share her research, inspired by Michael Rogin’s Ronald Reagan, The Movie: And Other Episodes in Political Demonology. Rogin’s book examines how American cultural history has used images, songs, literature, films, and rhetoric to justify political repression in the service of capitalist expansion. Central to this analysis is the creation of “demons”—symbolic figures such as the Indian cannibal, the Black rapist, the demon rum, the bomb-throwing anarchist, the Communist pod-people of 1950s sci-fi, the monstrous mother, and the international terrorist. These figures, Rogin argues, represent recurring performances of the same fears propagated by those in power.

Gurantz, an artist specializing in performance, video, and installation, is reimagining Rogin’s work as an immersive experience. In this presentation, she will explore the process of translating research into artistic production and trace how the counter-subversive, demonological impulse has evolved in our culture since Rogin’s book was first published in 1987. She will highlight its most recent manifestations, including imagery surrounding migrant caravans and trans panic.

Maya Gurantz: Art and American Demonologies in the Age of Trump