(2020). Understanding White Racial Sovereignty: Doing Research on Race and Inequality in the Trump Era (and Beyond). International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), v33 n2 p285-292. This essay concerns the political and social psychological roots of the White American electorate's decision to elect Donald J. Trump as the 45th president of the United States in 2016. The author explains how the Trump presidency is an iconoclastic reaction by the White American electorate to the country's first African American president, Barack Hussein Obama, and situates the Trump presidency as a White nationalist project dedicated to ensuring that the United States remains a "Herrenvolk" democratic society in which race is the dividing line between equality and racial subordination. Based on this reasoning, the author contends that scholars of color are 'free' to unapologetically pursue race-centered research and scholarly studies committed to the dismantling of White supremacy. The essay concludes with a discussion of why scholars of color and social justice activists must adopt what historians refer to as the "longue dur√©e" in the quest to end White… [Direct]
(2017). Equity and Music Education: Euphemisms, Terminal Naivety, and Whiteness. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, v16 n3 p15-47 Nov. In this paper, I advocate for the use of explicit language for discussions of race and call for music education to move out of terminal naivety (Vaugeois 2013) toward a heightened consciousness of political issues and racial oppressions. Employing critical race theory (CRT) as a theoretical framework, this paper examines race-related silences and the importance of using direct language to identify structural and systemic racism. I offer practical suggestions for initiating "race talk" in school music, in postsecondary music education, and in music education scholarship. These practical implications emerge from the experiences of four Toronto teachers who participated in a multiple case study on social justice and anti-racist work in music education (Hess 2013), the literature on race and silencing inside and outside music education, and my own experiences as a former public school music teacher and music teacher educator. With the surge of hate crimes and unmasked white… [PDF]
(2016). Telecollaboration as a Tool for Building Intercultural and Interreligious Understanding: The Sousse-Villanova Programme. Research-publishing.net, Paper presented at the Conference on Telecollaboration in Higher Education (2nd, Dublin, Ireland, Apr 21-23, 2016). The Paris and San Bernardino attacks in autumn 2015, along with various retaliatory incidents, and Donald Trump's suggestion that Muslims should be banned from entering the US, have reminded us again of the deep misunderstandings and resentments that often exist between the Muslim and Western worlds. In order to improve intercultural and interreligious understanding, students at the University of Sousse, Tunisia, took part in an online exchange programme with students from Villanova University in Pennsylvania, USA. Using student diaries and end of course reflection exercises, this study investigated both the benefits and limits that the exchange had in developing understanding, as well as the impact the process had on the outcomes. The findings showed numerous positive developments in intercultural and interreligious understanding, but also limits to the depth of discussion, particularly concerning conflict situations. The diaries also revealed some cases of limited communication,… [PDF]
(2016). Sanctuary … and Other Notes from the "NEJHE" Beat …. New England Journal of Higher Education, Nov. How will higher education fare under a President Donald Trump? According to this author, the campaign's misogyny shouldn't sit well with a student body that is now majority female, its disavowal of climate changes won't impress research universities, and the xenophobia won't help economies and cultures bolstered by foreign enrollment. The number of foreign students in the U.S topped 1 million in 2015-16. But experts worry that Trump's election could dampen foreign enrollment as 9/11 had done 15 years ago. Here at home, "college Canada" and "university Canada" were searched more than twice as much in the U.S. on the day after the election than on any other day in the past five years, according to Google. Many college student greeted Trump's election with walkouts. California State University, America's largest public university, reaffirmed Nov. 16 that it would not help with deportations. Several in New England have explored seeking "sanctuary" status for… [Direct]
(2018). Curriculum in the Post Truth Era: Is Truth Dead?. Canadian Social Studies, v50 n2 p44-48. "Trump has discovered something about epistemology in the 21st Century. The truth may be real, but falsehood often works better" (Scherer, M., "Time", April 3, 2017). Ironically perhaps, I took what the Donald has discovered about Western epistemology in our age to be true, so my first cautious answer to the question posed in the title is a qualified yes: Truth might indeed be dead, or at least dying, in the same way that Nietzsche proclaimed, more than 100 years ago, that God is dead. I think it's important to note that Nietzsche wasn't proclaiming that God did not exist, rather, he was stating that his existence has ceased to matter in the sense of bringing order, commitment, and a sense of purpose to a secular society. So, the question for me is not does truth exist? That is, can we sort truth from lies, or the "fake news" from the factual reporting of important events, and from the false histories constructed through colonial, imperial, racist, or… [PDF]
(2018). Campus Administrators' Responses to Donald Trump's Immigration Policy: Leadership during Times of Uncertainty. International Journal of Educational Leadership and Management, v6 n2 p98-125 Jul. Donald J. Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States in November 2016, after more than a year of campaigning on many major issues. Among the key issues presented during then-candidate Trump's campaign was immigration reform. While Latinos make up the largest ethnic group of non-citizens in the U.S., most of these individuals have resided in the U.S. for a long period of time, have strong family ties, and have children who are lawful U.S. citizens (Baum, 2010; Almeida, Johnson, McNamara, & Gupta, 2011; Sharpless, 2017). The Trump administration's early days involved a flurry of executive orders and other measures aimed at increasing the enforcement of immigration laws and blocking admission to the U.S. by individuals from specific countries. The purpose of this exploratory research study was to interview principals who lead Hispanic-majority elementary, middle, and high schools to determine how students and school communities are reacting to President Trump's… [PDF]
(2020). "Airplanes Not Walls": Broaching Unauthorized (Im)migration and Schooling in Mexico. Teachers College Record, v122 n8. Background/Context: This article builds on U.S.-based research on undocumented status and schooling to examine how an elementary school teacher in Mexico successfully integrates transnational students' experiences related to unauthorized (im)migration into the classroom. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: Drawing on a politicized funds of knowledge framework, we focus on an exceptional fifth-grade teacher's curricular, pedagogical, and relational decisions to provide concrete examples of how educators on both sides of the border can carefully integrate students' politicized experiences into their classrooms. Setting: This research took place in a semirural fifth-grade classroom in Central Mexico during the 2016-2017 academic year, when Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. Population/Participants/Subjects: This article focuses on the routine educational practices within a single fifth-grade classroom in a highly transnational Central Mexican town…. [Direct]
(2020). US Election 2020 Alerts! Democracy under Threat; Coronavirus Catastrophe; Climate Change Destruction; War. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, v18 n2 p70-118 Sep. This article is about the lead-up to the 2020 US General Election and appears in the last edition of this journal before the vote takes place in that momentous event on November 3. In the article, four specific and inter-related existential threats and dangers are identified that would arise from the re-election of Donald J. Trump: the destruction of democracy in the US; a continuation of the ongoing coronavirus catastrophe in the United States and Trump's callous attempts to promote US capitalism and his own capitalist interests by refuting and/or ignoring the dangers from this or future viruses; a worsening of world-threatening climate change destruction in the light of its denial by Trump; and the increased possibility of (nuclear) war. First, however, some brief comments are made about the Trump persona. The article uses the concept of public pedagogy to explore Trump's rhetoric, pronouncements and associated policies and practices that threaten and promote hatred and fear,… [PDF]
(2018). Teaching Trump: Student Recommendations to Ensure Safe Discussions in a Time of Polarized Political Divide. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, v38 n4 p347-362. This article includes findings from a mixed method survey at a large, public midwestern university following the election of Donald J. Trump as the president of the United States. It examines student perceptions about effective engagement in political discourse within social work classes. Survey questions urged students to suggest how instructors might facilitate this dialogue fairly in the classroom given the passionate emotions and differing viewpoints surrounding the election, while acknowledging and educating about values espoused by the profession. Findings from this study illustrate the challenges that students face in having these conversations and outline their recommendations to social work educators for facilitating safe, sensitive, and inclusive classroom discussion about politics…. [Direct]
(2020). One of These Things Is (Not) Like the Others: Form, Genre, and Presidential Portraits. Communication Teacher, v34 n4 p277-281. In the field of communication studies, an understanding of the relationship between form and genre is essential for mastering both practical skills and theoretical concepts in core courses such as public speaking, communication theory, and rhetorical criticism. Building on scholarship on the visual politics of presidential portraiture, this activity allows students to: (1) identify recurring patterns in contemporary presidential portraits; (2) distinguish how Donald J. Trump's two official White House portraits both reflect and deviate from those patterns; and (3) assess the broader significance of this photographic genre and the impact of violating generic expectations in other contexts. After completing the activity, students are better able to apply form and genre to their own presentations and critical essays. Courses: Public Speaking, Communication Theory, Rhetorical Theory, Rhetorical Criticism. Objectives: Students should be able to: (1) identify recurring formal patterns and… [Direct]
(2017). The Stakes Are Too High to Ignore the Trump-DeVos Agenda. Center for American Progress In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, some advocates and philanthropists are shifting their focus and energy from the federal level to the state and local level in the hopes of maintaining the momentum of gains made by the Obama administration. Since the nation's founding, states and the school districts they created have been in the driver's seat when it comes to education policy; they are central to the academic outcomes and well-being of children nationwide. At the same time, the federal government also plays a critical role in the education sector. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and President Donald Trump have the potential to affect student achievement and well-being. Advocates, policymakers, and philanthropists should consider the importance of the federal role in education before diverting all energy to state and district policies. Staunch advocacy can temper the Trump-DeVos agenda by offering alternatives to Congress, forcing the administration to adopt less… [PDF]
(2018). Disinformation, Dystopia and Post-Reality in Social Media: A Semiotic-Cognitive Perspective. Education for Information, v34 n3 p185-197. Based on recent political happenings, such as Brexit (UK) and the election of Donald Trump (USA), it has become clear that political marketing has been using 'Big Data' intensively. Information gathered from social media networks is organized into digital environments and has the power to determine the outcome of elections, plebiscites and popular consultations. New advertising and persuasion mechanisms have been created to undermine the reliability of traditional mass media communication that are familiar to the general audience. Consequently, 'fake news' and 'alternative facts' have emerged along with the notion of 'post-truth', which defines the state of affairs represented in public opinion that has been contaminated by these strategies. Based on the pragmatic-semiotic concepts developed by Peirce, such as belief, mental habits, controlled action, final opinion, truth, and reality, we argue that the 'global village', (McLuhan, 2008) may be at a dangerous fork in the road. This… [Direct]
(2021). Republican Attacks on Democrats as "Socialist": Historical Perspectives for Teaching a Key Current Issue. Social Education, v85 n4 p205-210 Sep. When teachers discuss the 2020 presidential election with students, now and in future years, they will, appropriately, place front and center the ramifications of the baseless challenges by Donald Trump and his supporters to Joe Biden's victory. Even as state and federal courts across the nation tossed out lawsuits challenging vote counts, the frenzy whipped up over false allegations of fraud and irregularities nevertheless culminated in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, the first real threat since the Civil War to the peaceful transition of power. However, in addition to considering with students this challenge to the electoral system, social studies teachers should also incorporate into the lessons an examination of the dominant theme of the Republican campaign–that the Democrats have become the party of "radical socialism," and that a Democratic victory would lead to the end of American society as we know it. Investigating such charges by Republicans… [Direct]
(2017). Thinking with Theory in an Era of Trump. Issues in Teacher Education, v26 n3 p3-22 Fall. This introduction to this special issue on "Thinking with Theory in Teacher Education" dedicates considerable space to broadly discussing the current U.S. political context to emphasize why, at this precise moment in history, educators, teacher educators, and educational researchers are in dire need of different ways to understand the world and our connections and interactions with/in it. The authors argue for the need to use these emergent understandings to become and live differently–as well as to shape systems of schooling and educate differently. They first situate this introduction in the global movement (at least in parts of the Western world) toward extreme right wing and ultra-conservative political ideologies. Drawing on the case of Donald Trump's election in the U.S., they present an argument that "good and common sense"–that is, rational ways of knowing–is woefully inadequate to build the needed justice movement to resist the implications of a… [PDF]
(2017). Teaching and Learning in the Age of Trump: Increasing Stress and Hostility in America's High Schools. UCLA IDEA This report examines whether the substance and tone of national political discourse during the first four months of the Trump administration affected U.S. public high school students. Throughout his campaign and in his presidency to date, Donald Trump has addressed a number of "hot-button" topics that call into question the status or rights of many different groups in American society. The charged political rhetoric surrounding these and other issues often has been polarizing and contentious. Many would agree that, since Donald Trump has moved into the White House, national political discourse has become a more potent force in shaping the consciousness and everyday experiences of Americans. It is important to ask if this new political environment has impacted high school students. The authors consider the following questions: (1) Have national political debates on topics such as immigration enforcement increased students' stress and heightened students' concerns about their… [PDF]