"Who claims that climate change is a religion, and why? Evaluating Claims of Religious (In)authenticity in Contemporary US Politics"

Robin Veldman, Associate Professor | Global Languages & Cultures

Abstract:

Claims that wokeness, liberalism and global warming are religions are ubiquitous in contemporary conservative media. Why have so many on the political right chosen to draw attention to the alleged religiosity of their political opponents, when it would seem to undercut another conservative aim, that of defending the place of religiosity in the public square? Drawing on media analysis and fieldwork, Veldman suggests that these statements should be analyzed as religious authenticity claims. When wokeness (etc.) is called a religion, it is in fact being called a false religion. By implication, the speaker is also making a statement about what constitutes true religion. Using examples from Rush Limbaugh and PragerU, Veldman shows that this true religion tends to be theologically orthodox monotheism. She interprets this authenticity rhetoric as evidence of an emerging ‘conservative civil religion’, which seems to be operating across traditions on the political right.

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

“Language and Nationality by Death: Rethinking Citizenship with Heidegger, Derrida, and Blanchot”

Michael Portal, Ph.D. Candidate | Philosophy

Abstract:

More than 60 countries provide some form of nationality or citizenship by birthright (jus soli) – for most others, nationality or citizenship is inherited (jus sanguinis). In Monolingualism of the Other, Jacques Derrida invites us to rethink nationality or citizenship along different lines, not by birth or inheritance but instead by death and burial: you are from where you die, or where you are (or choose to be) buried. Portal read this alternative nationalism alongside Derrida’s “law of the eclipse” proposed in Geschlecht III to argue that we ought to reorient ourselves otherwise than to the more traditional nationalisms. Following Derrida and Maurice Blanchot, Portal proposes what might be called “survival nationalism.” This nationalism, he shows, undoes the priority assigned to being someone particular in birth or death, and the ethical importance of impersonality and anonymity today (of being personne).

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

The Colloquium Series offers Glasscock Center Fellows an opportunity to discuss a work-in-progress with faculty and graduate students from different disciplines. By long-standing practice, colloquium presenters provide a draft of their current research, which is made available to members of the Glasscock Center listserv. Each colloquium begins with the presenter’s short (10-15 minute) exposition of the project, after which the floor is open for comments and queries. The format is by design informal, conversational, and interdisciplinary.

The paper is available to members of the Center’s listserv, or by contacting the Glasscock Center by phone at (979) 845-8328 or by e-mail at glasscock@tamu.edu.

Join the Center’s listserv to receive regular notices of colloquium events.