Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Sociology, has been awarded a Pitt Professorship of American History and Institutions at Cambridge University, England, for the 2024-2025 academic year.
The Pitt Professorship was established in 1944 with the goal of bringing US-based historians and sociologists to teach at Cambridge’s American History program. Each academic year, a new Pitt Professor is selected from the most distinguished scholars of American history and sociology in the country. Duke’s John Hope Franklin was Cambridge’s Pitt Professor in 1962-1963.
Bonilla-Silva, who presided over the American Sociological Association in 2018, is a scholar of race. His book, “Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America,” has redefined the study of contemporary racism in America by presenting racism as a collective and structural phenomenon.
“He provides a theoretical framework and vocabulary for understanding contemporary racism, reorienting how we think about the roots of systemic racism: It comes not from individual prejudice, but from interlocking social structures and institutions that allow for and perpetuate racial inequality,” wrote Hedwig Lee, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Sociology in a previous review.
“The Pitt Professorship is a distinguished position offered to prominent U.S.-based scholars with an international reputation,” said Jen’nan Read, professor and chair of Sociology. “This is an impressive achievement that recognizes Eduardo’s preeminent standing in the academy and his lasting contributions to our understandings of racial inequality and racism.”
Bonilla-Silva’s appointment starts along with Cambridge’s academic year, on October 1st.
Department of Sociology