Reading against fascism in the age of Trump

Abstract

This article explores reading as both an act of interpretation and an act of resistance in an age in which neoliberalism undercuts the possibility of contemplation, critical thought and collective action. The article makes a case for reading as a practice that engages historical memory, a slowing down of time, a comprehensive understanding of politics, and as a precondition for individual and collective agency. Giroux argues that against a numbing indifference to the rise of fascism in the United States, it is hard to imagine a more urgent moment for developing a language of critique and possibility that would serve to awaken our critical and imaginative senses and help free us from the tyrannical nightmare that has descended upon the United States under the rule of Donald Trump. In an age of social isolation; information overflow; a culture of immediacy, consumer glut and
spectacularized violence; reading critical books and other representational texts coupled with thinking analytically remain necessary if we are to take seriously the notion that a radical democracy cannot exist or be defended without informed and engaged citizens.