Pedagogies of Post-Truth [Paperback]

Pedagogies of Post-Truth explores the national and international political developments in what has been called a post-truth society; specifically, in which conservative groups target media outlets claiming fabrication of news and that the veracity of evidence-based reporting should be questioned. Truth has been reduced to the validation of opinions instead of the presentation of scientific facts. This collection responds to these issues by initiating a scholarly dialogue about teaching in the era of post-truth in which research-based findings that do not align with political viewpoints are judged, criticized, and often described as fake. Contributors evaluate the pedagogical challenges of post-truth discourse and how post-truth messages negatively affect instructors and students. By highlighting ways instructors and students can resist the hegemony of post-truth, this book creates a dialogue among scholars, illustrates the challenges, and offers pedagogical techniques to discuss post-truth, the role of the educator, the role of media, and the role of other story-makers of our society.

David H. Kahl, Jr. is professor of communication at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College.
Ahmet Atay is associate professor of communication at the College of Wooster.

Speaking truth to power, Kahl and Atays perfectly timed and much-needed edited collection comprehensively conceptualizes, compellingly critiques, and carefully considers how critical communication pedagogy can contribute to college students capacity to recognize and resist the contemporary post-truth context in which politicians, media personnel, and other parties seek to preserve power and further persecute oppressed populations, by purposefully promoting false/fake facts that prey on people who are persuaded by their emotions and beliefs rather than by factual truths. Lawrence R. Frey, University of Colorado Boulder

Post-truth messages, as communication that functions to 'falsify, obfuscal_