Author Archives: Dr. Andrew Joseph Pegoda

Today my wonderful students in both sections of Introduction to GLBT Studies (or Queer Studies) at the University of Houston explored various aspects of identity!  We started off by listening to and discussing a variety of performance poems: “Until We Could,” “Lost Voices,” and “For Anyone Who’s Been Told it’s ‘Just a Phase’.” Then weContinue reading “A Look Inside My Introduction to Queer Studies Classes: Poetry and Identity”

While I understand that capitalism pressures even the best media or educational outlets to satisfy its audiences, this does not excuse the distribution of misleading or inaccurate information. One of the biggest problem with National Geographic‘s special issue on gender is that it is not really so much about gender as it is about sexContinue reading “Getting it (Mostly) Wrong: AJP’s Take on National Geographic’s January 2017 Special Issue on Gender”

My copy of Tom Nichols’s The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters arrived earlier this week. I started the book late last night, and a few hours later, I finished and can say that The Death of Expertise is an extremely interesting, important, and timely book. The Death of Expertise is fullContinue reading “AJP’s take on Tom Nichols’s “The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters””

At first I was excited when I saw word that Senator Ted Cruz (and thinking, “wow, we agree on something!?!”) and then Governor Greg Abbott were calling for Congressional term limits. At first. Until I remembered that Cruz and Abbott do not care about the people who elect them or anyone else but only careContinue reading “Why would Cruz and Abbott call for term limits?”

Neoliberalism, which has little to do with the political philosophy called (modern) liberalism in the present-day United States, has its roots in classical liberalism and in (modern) conservatism. Neoliberalism is also so powerful and pervasive that most people cannot see it and never really know what it is. Neoliberalism has a variety of tenets and goals. TheseContinue reading “Neoliberalism and the Violence of Scholastic Scholarships”

No one is born voluntarily. Even more, no one asks to be born with permanent disorders and diseases. And because of capitalism and its inhumane nature, people like me “cost” millions of additional dollars over a lifetime in order to live. And this is largely due to being born in the United States. The UnitedContinue reading “Obamacare is Saving My Life. Will you let me live?”

Almost since I first head about the “new, radical” notion of teaching history backward, I have been intrigued. I first heard about it while overhearing a conversation–while presenting a paper at Rice University in March 2014–about how Dr. W. Caleb McDaniel was teaching his survey course backward, starting with the present and working backward.  It tookContinue reading “Teaching Texas History Backward – Update #1”