University of Chicago Offers Students "Trump 101" Class

If you live anywhere near a college campus these days, you’ve seen it: mass panic, and mass confusion as hyper-liberal college students (and professors) come to terms with a man they’ve been told is the devil himself.

After going through every stage of grief, universities are trying to figure out how exactly to address the political upheaval that is a Trump presidency. University of Chicago is taking a characteristically academic approach.

Today an email was sent to students about a new course called “Trump 101” being taught by Anthropology professor William Mazzarella in the spring of 2017. The course addresses “Trumpism as a symptom of our political present. Where are we? How did we get here? Where do we go from here?”

As is the standard at University of Chicago, the course takes a very multi-disciplinary, theory-based approach to the phenomenon. Students will explore how the 2016 election fits with “existing theories of fascism or the mass psychology of authoritarianism.” The course will be taught using “a mix of classic texts and contemporary commentaries.”

Worth noting: the course is only being offered tentatively, pending student interest. I can tell you this: I’m interested.

The full email:

Trump 101 Potential course for Spring 2017 Trying to gauge interest

Dear all,  Professor William Mazzarella in the Anthropology Department is considering offering the following course in Spring 2017 and we are attempting to gauge the level of interest. Would YOU be interested? Do you think undergrads in other majors in the Social Sciences would be interested. (We are trying to poll majors in most of the SSCD departments.)

Best, [REDACTED] Please reply to [REDACTED]

Trump 101

This class is an attempt to make sense of Trumpism as a symptom of our political present. Where are we? How did we get here? Where do we go from here? Can existing theories of fascism or the mass psychology of authoritarianism explain our situation or do we need a new set of tools? Do Americans nowadays live as largely separate media publics? Using a mix of classic texts and contemporary commentaries, we will explore the politics of race, class, and sex that made a Trump victory possible and what they can tell us about possible democratic futures.