Serving Diverse Students: Teaching Alternative Pathways to Political Leadership

• In Event: Innovative Pedagogies for Inclusive Classrooms

Abstract

This paper, based on an online experimental design administered to students enrolled in political science classes on 18 campuses, indicates Hispanic and African American women have a distinct reaction to exposure to rude politics. Unlike most students, exposure to politicians engaged in rude interactions heightens their political ambition, making them more interested in running for office, than when exposed to civil politicians. This reaction likely results from their demographic groups’ deep (albeit unique) histories each grounded in hardship, self-reliance, and social justice activism.

Given limited attention to race, ethnic, and sex-based inequality or to tactics of disruptive politics in the undergraduate curriculum, teacher-scholars in political science are often ill-prepared to respond to our students’ heightened levels of political ambition in an era of rude politics. Hence this paper describes several teaching and learning strategies, grounded in intersectional civic engagement pedagogy, to address this concern.

Authors

• J. Cherie Strachan, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Monica C. Schneider, Miami University

• Elizabeth A. Bennion, Indiana University South Bend

• Angela L. Bos, College of Wooster