Teaching Resistance by John Mink

Author:John Mink [Mink, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781629637099
Publisher: PM Press
Published: 2019-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Anti-intellectualism and reactionary, deeply conservative thought run very deeply in the dominant cultural and political systems in the United States, a problem long recognized but first dissected at length by historian Richard Hofstadter in his book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (New York: Vintage Books, 1963). As of late 2019, the most blunt and brutal of these tendencies continue to be politically prominent via neofascist/faux populist backlash movements, such as Trumpism, religious (particularly Christian) fundamentalism, and the viral, “rebellious” appeal of conspiracy-minded, hard-right contrarian ideologues such as Alex Jones from Infowars, whose bizarre conceptualizations of knowledge sometimes read like a broken funhouse mirror version of postmodernism (sans any meaningful structural or social critique).

One of the favored targets for these reactionary anti-intellectuals has long been the hallowed institution of the university, where the fabled “Ivory Tower” of academia is believed (by reactionaries and those mindlessly parroting their rhetoric) to insulate students and faculty from the so-called “real world” of capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy, and inequality outside the confines of the school. This belief has led to numerous and increasing right-wing attempts to force professors and university departments to cease centering the views of marginalized voices, to end criticism of U.S. and European imperialist/colonialist actions, and to insert a greater number of reactionary voices against social and economic justice into the curriculum—regardless of their intellectual merit—in order to promote greater ideological “balance.” These attempts at forcing academics and intellectuals to adopt what is essentially an anti-intellectual, anti-critical, pro–status quo stance have been organized by powerful right-wing organizations and promoted on the ground level by a small but driven number of students who see their mission as being against what they perceive as total control by radicals in academia.

Though the sciences are not immune (particularly from religious fundamentalists), the humanities departments have borne the brunt of these right-wing attacks as of late in the wake of five decades of radical scholarship that deeply critiques and challenges long-held academic assumptions and biases—especially those supporting white male supremacy. Ironically, of course, the kind of reactionary pushback to these critiques described in the preceding paragraph serves to effectively insulate the most privileged students—those who directly benefit from white male supremacy—from the very complex “real world” that is best understood through rigorous, critical scholarship, promotion of social equity, and the centering of voices that have been marginalized for so long by dominance and oppression.

The next chapter is from punk lifer (and frequent contributor/shitworker at Maximumrocknroll magazine) Mimi Thi Nguyen, who is an author, public speaker, and professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Illinois. Her writing for this book focuses on what questions of justice, intersectionality, and radicalism actually mean at college campuses today, for students, their teachers, and society at large—aka “the real world.” Mimi can be emailed directly at [email protected].

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.