Teaching Politics Beyond the Book

Edited by Daniel Tagliarina
Edited by Robert W. Glover

Welcome to the Companion Website for Teaching Politics Beyond the Book Edited by Daniel Tagliarina
Robert W. Glover. Within this site you’ll find detailed information about the book, together with an extensive range of teaching and learning resources for download.


    Over a century ago, the preeminent French sociologist Emile Durkheim wrote of “social facts.” Much of our daily life, he argued, adheres to a complex and socially determined set of expected behaviors. When going about our business, adhering to these social expectations, we fool ourselves into thinking we are acting completely autonomously. Step outside of those expected patterns of behaviors and we quickly realize what a dense, socially constructed world we inhabit.

    This edited volume is a collective effort to think through the “social facts” of teaching politics to students today. Many of the themes of political life remain remarkably resilient—justice, democracy, conflict, protest, community. Yet educators also reside in an era that is unique and novel. New technological platforms exist to share information with our students, and for our students to interact with one another. Innovations in classroom technology have made the incorporation of visual, audio, and interactive media into our curricula nearly effortless. Online bookstores have democratized access to media, such that the availability of a text is practically no longer a consideration in crafting curricula. In many senses, while core themes of political life remain the same, the opportunities available to us as we teach our students about such topics are more diversified than they have ever been.

    As a result of this heavily mediatized and information-driven age, student expectations regarding information flow and educational process are changing as well. The present generation of students has grown up in an era characterized by easy access to information and experiential forms of knowledge acquisition. The “social facts” of their learning environment have changed and as educators, we must be prepared to adapt. This edited volume is the beginning of a conversation about how we might meet the changing expectations of our students, and fully harness the pedagogical power of both old and new “non-traditional texts” within the classroom.

    We would like to thank the individuals who shared in the inception and creation of this innovative volume. We must humbly thank the authors contained within. For their pioneering perspectives, for their hard work and willingness to share their ideas with others, we are eternally grateful. We must also thank our generous and adept editor Marie-Claire Antoine at Continuum/ Bloomsbury.  Her expertise, guidance, and support were immeasurable and we are deeply grateful. Lastly, we must thank those close to us who showed endless patience and support as we worked on the many stages of putting the volume together. Robert Glover would like to thank his tremendously supportive friends, colleagues, and family (most especially his wonderful mother, Margaret and his two amazing sisters Carrie and Dianna). Daniel Tagliarina would like to thank his fantastic family, friends, and colleagues, but most of all, his eminently supportive wife and partner, Corinne, and their joyful son, Alex. Last but not least, we are immensely thankful for our talented, creative, and thoughtful students. The rewards of working with such inquisitive young people at the formative years of their political socialization are incalculable. They are an endless source of professional and personal motivation for us and we are humbly indebted to them.

Robert W. Glover                Daniel Tagliarina
University of Maine              University of Connecticut