Anti-Fascism Through Information Literacy?: Post-Pandemic Hands-On Learning

This class will start with historian Timothy Snyder’s contention that “post-truth is pre-fascism”, and then consider whether “information literacy” can serve as a defense against authoritarianism.Or, are authoritarian movements and systems, including and perhaps especially fascism, “information-proof”, or “truth-proof”? We’ll discuss what “information literacy” means, while learning many of the basic (and some of the more advanced) moves of academic research, with a focus on scholarly sources, data sources, news media, and some social media.Alongside research skills workshops, presentations will include case studies drawn from many disciplines (primarily but not exclusively the social sciences), and a look at the interplay between academic work and popular media.By the end of the class, students will have new research skills as well asinformed perspectives on the promise and the limitations of information literacyboth in theory and in practice.