Using short-form student videos to widen the canon of political thought

Abstract

A perennial problem for teachers of political thought is to decide what thinkers to include in the required course readings. In many cases, teachers have come to rely on an established Western canon as they seek to build a shared disciplinary identity, impart key theoretical insights and provide common points of reference. Increasingly, however, calls have been made to include more non-Western, female and otherwise marginalised voices. In response, this article presents and evaluates an interactive group video assignment by which the students are asked to identify one, hitherto excluded, political thinker and formulate arguments for his or her inclusion in the course readings. As a collaborative exercise, higher-level comprehension, analysis and synthesis are encouraged while the shared ‘canon’ of political thought is widened.