Conceptualizing the Dangerous Rise of Ethnoreligious Nationalist Literacies in Education

Abstract

Reluctance to embrace change leaves societies vulnerable to the rise of authoritarian political ideologies, particularly during times of socioeconomic and political crises. Public schools have seen an increase in incidents where fundamentalist groups with differing agendas have attempted to pressure them into adopting curricula whose literacy practices are rooted in a White, northern European Protestant worldview. This essay examines this contemporary phenomenon in public education discourse, which the authors identify as “ethnoreligious nationalism.” It does so by providing a snapshot of current spectacles of ethnoreligious nationalist activism worldwide, discussing how their affective literacy strategies have contributed to the demoralization of public education as a democratic institution. We conclude by proposing potential questions for critical comparative international research on the literacies deployed by ethnoreligious nationalist movements across educational settings.