I am teaching a graduate course on the “21st Century History Wars” this semester. If anybody is interested in following along here on Twitter, I’d be happy to keep a running diary of what we read and discuss. A few thoughts on the outline of the course and the idea behind it:
Not just in the United States, but on either side of the Atlantic, we are witnessing intense conflicts over questions of cultural hegemony and national identity that have catapulted debates over “history” to the top of the political agenda.
These are struggles over who gets to define the national story and what place the legacies of racism, slavery, colonialism, and imperialism should occupy in it – with serious implications for the political, social, and cultural order in the present.
These “history wars” provide an excellent window into the broader political, social, and cultural debates that define the U.S., in particular, and the “West” more generally – they are directly tied to current conflicts over multiracial, pluralistic democracy.
We start with a deep dive into past and present history wars in the U.S.: From the fight over National History Standards in the 90s to the current flurry of reactionary education / history bills on the state level, from the 1619 Project to the conflict over Confederate monuments.
We’re also exploring the inter- and transnational context: It was the killing of George Floyd in the summer of 2020 that led to a transatlantic wave of protests, acting as catalysts for broader debates over the past and present of colonialism and racism in the UK and elsewhere.
And we’re paying special attention to Germany, where a fierce new fight over how to study, teach, and remember the Holocaust, the so-called Catechism Debate, erupted in the summer of 2021 – not coincidentally at the height of the “History Wars” elsewhere in the “West.”
These German debates are interesting from a U.S. perspective, in particular, as the idea that America should “learn from the Germans” is so widely held over here, that Germany had somehow found a more honest, more productive way of handling the “Memory of Evil.”
Just when the idea of “Learning from the Germans” has been so widely applauded in the U.S., voices in Germany have become louder calling for a critical re-assessment of the German way of “working through the past,” diagnosing some deep and disconcerting flaws.
The overall goal of this course is to gain a better understanding of the ways in which “history” shapes the present, how it influences political, social, and cultural debates, who gets to define that “history” and what role historians, politicians, activists play in that process.
We want to examine why such conflicts over “history” come to the forefront of the political/social/cultural debate at specific moments in time, and explore them as reflections on national identity, with all the political consequences that entails.
I’ve never taught this course before, so it’s all a bit of an experiment and I am very much open to suggestions and ideas regarding readings and topics. I’m working with a fantastic group of students, and I am excited to find out where our discussions will go.
Very excited to find out that so many people are interested in following along. Wonderful. Once again: It will be an experiment. I’ll do my best to keep up over the course of the semester, outlining what we read, the issues we discuss, our main conclusions and open questions.
I think I’ll try to post an update every week, probably in the form of short, separate threads, otherwise this original thread would become unwieldy quite quickly. But I’ll always update this thread here with a link to those weekly reflections, so this can be the starting point.
The semester has already started, we are three weeks in - so as soon as I find the time, I’ll post an update on what we’ve been reading and discussing so far, before we’re set to revisit the 1619 Project next week. Excited to hear everybody’s thoughts and ideas!
People are suggesting a hashtag would be helpful, which I think makes sense. I’ll be using #GEST535 - simply because that’s the course’s official designation.
Also, a sincere apology in advance: It will be impossible to answer everyone’s questions or react to all the comments.
Finally, a warning: In addition to updates on the course, expect lots of U.S. politics and history. I focus on democracy and its discontents, and that’s obviously an acutely contested issue. I also write columns for @GuardianUS, if you’re interested. Here’s the latest:
Here’s the recap of Week 2: A look at some big-picture takes on the History Wars, and a discussion centered around how nationalist regimes deploy “memory laws” and whether American Liberals have abandoned the idea of progress in history.
Here’s the recap of Week 3: An attempt to contextualize the conflict over history education - and a reflection on “patriotic” visions of history and the project of creating national unity.
Trump is not the mastermind behind Project 2025. It’s worse: The rightwing establishment has radicalized to the point where their plans are entirely in line with his vengeful desires.
My new piece (link in bio):
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I wrote about the relationship between Trump and Project 2025, between the inner circle of MAGA world on the one hand and the institutional and intellectual elites of American conservatism on the other: A radicalizing alliance against democratic pluralism. 2/
Donald Trump lied when he declared he had nothing to do with Project 2025 and knew no one involved in the operation. Not exactly shocking, I know. But there is something more interesting and revealing going on here than just habitual lying. 3/
I took a deep dive into the “Promise to America” Heritage president Kevin Roberts has offered in his foreword to the "Project 2025" report: It perfectly captures the siege mentality, self-victimization, and grievance-driven lust for revenge that are fueling the Right's plans. 2/
Kevin Roberts is not a moderate imposter who pretends to be hardcore so that he can blend in with the MAGAs because that is the direction the wind is blowing. He is a reactionary Catholic and part of the Religious Right – a true believer in the reactionary political project. 3/
An argument I’m trying to make here is that a second Trump term would be worse not only because the radical Right would be better prepared, but also because they would be operating under much more favorable circumstances.
With a much more extreme Supreme Court, for instance.
Back in power, the radical Right could count on a reactionary supermajority on the Supreme Court - something they didn’t have during Trump’s first term.
Today’s disastrous, truly extreme immunity ruling should be an urgent reminder of what an absolute game-changer that is.
Additionally, this would not be the same Right that came to power in 2017. That starts with Trump himself. The idea that he has always been the same, just Trump being Trump, is massively misleading and obscures the rather drastic radicalization of the Right’s undisputed leader.
I wrote a three-part series about the worldview of the people behind “Project 2025,” the policy agenda and detailed plans it has produced, and what all this tells us about the radicalization of the American right.
It is difficult to convey how much establishment conservatism has been taken over by anti-democratic extremism.
“Project 2025” is actually helpful in that sense: Rightwing leaders are maximally clear about the reactionary vision they want to impose on the country. 3/
I got to talk to @chrislhayes about “Project 2025” on his #WITHpod
If you want more, I wrote a three-part series on the Right’s radical plans to use government as an authoritarian tool to impose a reactionary vision on America. Some thoughts:
Part I focuses on the worldview of the people behind “Project 2025.”
They see themselves as noble defenders of “real America” against a totalitarian “woke,” “globalist” assault. “Project 2025” is their declaration of war on multiracial pluralism: 2/
In his foreword to the "Project 2025" report, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts offers his “Promise to America”: It perfectly captures the escalating siege mentality, self-victimization, and grievance-driven lust for revenge that are fueling the Right's plans. 3/
The Origins of Trumpism and the Birth of the Present
Reflections on the pre-history of Trump’s rise, the peculiar nature of Trumpism, and the radical politics of white despair – based on John Ganz’s masterful “When the Clock Broke”
My new piece (link in bio):
🧵1/
Based on this brilliant book, I reflect on the nature of Trumpism and how to situate it in the American Right’s recent history; the role of the rightwing intellectual sphere; the challenge of how to approach, research, interpret, and tell the pre-history of the present. 2/
The book’s perspective on the early 1990s is undoubtedly shaped by the experience of Trumpism, and if you read it, it is inevitable you’ll read it through the lens of Trump. There is evidently a proto-MAGA dimension to a lot of what is happening here. 3/