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'Trump 101' Course Could Be Offered At University of Chicago This Spring

By Sam Cholke | December 1, 2016 10:48am | Updated on December 2, 2016 10:53am
 The University of Chicago is considering offering a
The University of Chicago is considering offering a "Trump 101" course in the spring.
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Flikr/Gage Skidmore

HYDE PARK — Donald Trump has quickly become an academic puzzle to be sorted out in a “Trump 101” course at the University of Chicago.

Anthropology professor William Mazzarella sent out an email to students Wednesday trying to drum up interest in a new anthropology course that tries to unravel “Trumpism.”

“This class is an attempt to make sense of Trumpism as a symptom of our political present. Where are we? How did we get here? Where do we go from here?” the email says.

The class for undergraduates would start in the spring quarter of 2017 if there is enough interest.

“This is still in a very preliminary planning stage, and so there's no syllabus as yet,” Mazzarella said by email Thursday.

The course description expects that Mazzarella will talk about whether “existing theories of fascism or the mass psychology of authoritarianism explain our situation.”

A mix of classical and contemporary texts will explore how politics of race, class and sex made a Trump victory possible.

“Depending on student interest and faculty availability this may turn out to be a multi-section thing with several faculty teaching,” Mazzarella said.

For people who are not undergraduates at the university, history professors are presenting a multi-part series trying to figure out how the rapid rise of Donald Trump in politics happened and what it now means.

Five history professors will have a broad ranging discussion about Trump’s place in history at 1 p.m. Friday at the Math-Stats building in room 112.

A second conversation will happen at a date yet to be scheduled in January on the context and consequences of Trump with five other history professors from the university.

The lectures are free and open to the public.

A full list of faculty participating is available on the event website.

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