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New Book: Gunther Peck

The Duke historian, whose focus is on human trafficking and its relationship to the evolution of racial ideology, released his latest book "Race Traffic."

By Matt LoJacono // December 15, 2024

 

Man, outside
Gunther Peck

Gunther Peck, Associate Professor of History and Public Policy at Duke University, has dedicated his career to exploring the ethical stakes of historical inquiry and inspiring students to become transformative leaders. A recipient of the Bass Chair for excellence in teaching and scholarship, his work connects the past to pressing ethical dilemmas of the present. His latest book, Race Traffic: Antislavery and the Origins of White Racial Victimhood (UNC Press), examines the historical intersections of human trafficking and race.

About the book

Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press

Fantasies of white slavery and the narratives of victimhood they spawn form the foundation of racist ideology. They also obscure the lived experience of trafficked servants and sailors in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Gunther Peck moves deftly between the Atlantic and Mediterranean worlds to discover where and when people with light skin color came to see themselves as white. Separating fact from fiction, and paying close attention to the ideological work each performs, Peck shows how laboring women and men leveraged their newfound whiteness to secure economic opportunity and political power.

 

Peck argues that whiteness emerged not as a claim of racial superiority but as a byproduct of wide-ranging and rancorous public debate over trafficking and enslavement. Even as whiteness became a legal category that signaled privilege, trafficking and race remained tightly interwoven.

Race Traffic book cover

Those advocating for the value of whiteness invoked emotionally freighted victimhood, claiming that so-called white slavery was a crime whose costs far exceeded those associated with the enslavement of African peoples across the Americas. Peck helps us understand the chilling history that produced the racist ideology that still poisons our politics in the present day.

Alongside the book release, Peck penned this op-ed for TIME about the racial ideologies in our current political conversations, particularly the 2024 presidential campaign. 

Read the TIME commentary here:

The Centuries of History Behind a Key Trump Strategy | TIME

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Matt LoJacono

Matt LoJacono is Sanford's Senior Public Relations Manager. With a focus on media relations, Matt oversees and nurtures connections between the institution and various outlets, ensuring effective communication about faculty, staff, and students. He is also responsible for crafting engaging news stories and in-depth articles that highlight the events and achievements within Sanford. As such, when the need arises, Matt is in charge of updating printed materials including the faculty guide throughout the year.

Matt holds a BA in Public Relations from George Mason University and an MS in Communication from North Carolina State University. He is an active member of the Public Relations Society of America, further expanding his and Sanford's network. Outside of work, Matt enjoys going to baseball games and is an avid fan of the Boston Red Sox.

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