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Teaching Islam in contemporary America: Digital ethnography and the affective challenges of Islamic studies pedagogy
Author(s) -
Dorroll Courtney,
Dorroll Phil
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
teaching theology and religion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.165
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1467-9647
pISSN - 1368-4868
DOI - 10.1111/teth.12410
Subject(s) - islam , ethnography , sociology , social media , politics , digital media , power (physics) , cultural studies , media studies , psychology , pedagogy , political science , anthropology , history , quantum mechanics , law , archaeology , physics
In this article we address the affective dimensions and challenges of teaching about Islam and Islamic studies in the current American political and cultural environment and make two related arguments. First, we explain how the impact of certain kinds of digital media in the past few years has heightened the association of Islam with violence in the minds of many Americans, leading to a classroom affective environment characterized by the “posttraumatic” experience of knowledge about Islam. Second, we argue that the pedagogical use of digital media as a tool for ethnographic and empathic engagement with individual Muslim lives can help meet this particular teaching challenge. We show how the pedagogical employment of digital ethnography can turn the affective power of digital media into a positive learning tool, and model its responsible social and intellectual use.