Why Do (Ethno)Religious Nationalisms Matter for Curriculum Studies? White Christian Nationalism in the United States

• In Event: Exploring (Ethno)Religious Truths in Curriculum Studies: A Dialogue Across Global Perspectives

Abstract

Purpose
A growing body of work argues that it is essential to address Christian privilege in order
to fully understand the challenges of our contemporary educational situation. Responding to these ongoing scholarly and pedagogical conversations about Christianity, educational justice, and US schooling, we aim to highlight Christian nationalism (CN) as a religio-political movement that provides an additional explanatory variable: Not only can learning more about CN help various educational stakeholders better understand various examples, it can also help contextualize a wide range of pressing problems related to curriculum violence facing US education, especially problems involving educational justice and equity.
Theoretical framework
We follow Whitehead and Perry (2020) in defining CN as “a cultural framework—a
collection of myths, traditions, symbols, narratives, and value systems—that idealizes and
advocates a fusion of Christianity with American civic life” (p. 10). The hallmark of CN is the belief that public institutions should reflect Christianity (the hierarchical, authoritarian, patriarchal version), based on the premise that the US was founded as a Christian nation (see Gorski & Perry, 2022).

Modes of Inquiry
This is an analytical essay meant to outline both a problem that faces curriculum scholars and educational researchers broadly, but also to put forth an argument for an increased focus on CN in educational research. As such it follows AERA’s standards for reporting on Humanities Based Research (2009) where “A prominent feature of humanities-oriented research in education is its use of interpretive methods, broadly construed, which investigate the history, meanings, beliefs, values, and discourses that human beings employ in the production of social life” (p. 482).

Substantiated Conclusions and Scholarly Significance
If curriculum studies were to understand CN as a religio-political movement attempting to (re)order education at all levels and in all subject areas, what research and scholarly agenda might follow? First, educational researchers would need to develop basic knowledge about Christian nationalism. Such inquiry could include reading from a corpus of texts outlining its history, political project, and especially educational ends, many of which are discussed in this paper. As well, researchers might learn from translational outlets in religious media that are largely centrist and concerned with Christian belief and cultural life, but also the use of Christian belief for CN ends. Such a course of study could enable scholars and researchers to consider how CN might be operating in various arenas of curriculum.
From the standpoint of education and society, however, it seems important to know more about how people learn the curriculum of CN throughout their lifespan, both
within and outside of formal educational institutions. How, for instance, do language and literacy practices, pedagogies, and traditions figure into this learning? What role do taken-for-granted school activities (e.g., performing patriotic songs, writing letters to the troops) play in priming youth to support elements of CN, such as American exceptionalism and veneration of military service? How does the curriculum of Christian nationalism orient people to certain texts or figures as authoritative?

Authors

• Kevin J. Burke, University of Georgia
  Presenting Author

• Mary M. Juzwik, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author

• Esther Prins, Pennsylvania State University
  Presenting Author