The 2016 election of Donald Trump has brought with it a wave of dangerous, reactionary developments, including an emboldened white supremacy; brazen sexism; a belligerent foreign policy posture; an ever-more punitive stance on “law and order”; racist, xenophobic immigration and border policies; denial of scientifically-proven climate change; an augmented neoliberal, “business” approach to social problems; an assault on truth in favor of “alternative facts”; the elevation of hate and bigotry in public discourse and attitude; and more. While many were shocked by the election results, the Alt-Right, authoritarian forces and sharply regressive ideas that carried Trump into office have deep historic roots and broad support.
For many people, including the electoral majority who voted against Trump and those who are targeted by Trumpism, these are dark, distressing times. And yet, recent years have witnessed the rise of resistance movements—from Black Lives Matter and NoDAPL to the 2017 Women’s March on Washington (and affiliate marches around the country and the world) and nationwide demonstrations against the new administration’s bigoted immigration restrictions, among others. Left educators at all levels are active in the struggle, and have created networks to share pedagogical and activist strategies – see for instance: http://www.radicalteacher.net/trumpism/
Radical Teacher invites submissions that address how progressive educators are teaching about, working within, and resisting Trumpism. Potential topics include:
- teaching the dynamics of white supremacy and anti-blackness in the context of a resurgent white nationalism
- teaching about revisionist history and the meanings of memory and commemoration (eg Confederate monuments, the rewriting of the causes of the Civil War, etc)
- teaching about and against “fake news”
- teaching about (and/or doing) labor organizing in an openly anti-union climate
- teaching indigenous sovereignty and the history of settler colonialism
- teaching to challenge sexism and the culture of sexual assault
- fighting for educational funding in the context of neoliberal privatization
- teaching climate change and scientific fact in the context of Presidential denial and obfuscation
- teaching about economic injustice, exploitation, class, and the concentration of wealth in the context of a billionaire presidency and extreme wealth consolidation
- teaching LBGTQIA issues in the context of toxic masculinity and violence against queer, trans, and gender non-conforming people
- teaching about US empire in the context of a reinvigorated American exceptionalism
Stay Tuned for the forthcoming issue