When political news breaks, the reactions it garners can elicit verbose and detailed responses from the nation’s elite academics. But, sometimes, in the limited space of Twitter, the only thing James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor Eddie S. Glaude GS ’97 needs to say is, “WTH?!”
In the past month alone, nine different articles, reports, and pieces of news have received that exact reaction from Glaude.
Despite the occasional brevity of his tweets, Glaude’s ultimate goal when approaching social media is to present information in such a way that his followers can think more carefully about “the issues at hand.”
“Part of what I try to do is provide material that will deepen people’s understanding of the issue at hand, try to offer a more nuanced account of the subject,” Glaude said. “As an academic I’m always trying to put more information in circulation so people can think critically.”
An expert in the fields of religion and African-American studies, Glaude chooses primarily to comment on issues of race and political institutions and the effects they have on democracy.
For example, during the Obama administration, Glaude would comment on the reported unemployment numbers and remind his Twitter audience what changes and trends in employment would mean for African-Americans specifically.
“When the unemployment numbers are reported, I will drill down into those numbers and disaggregate them about race,” Glaude said. “I’m always commenting on the issue of race in the country, and that can vary from encounters with police and police brutality to the state of economic realities within black communities … [or] around immigration policy.”
Glaude is one of several professors and public intellectuals who are referred to as #twitterhistorians. Glaude has praised the work of his fellow Twitter historians, such as history professor Kevin Kruse’s Twitter debates with Dinesh D’Souza.
Glaude sees his style of advocacy on Twitter not simply as showing off his knowledge or intellectual ability as an academic, but also what his views are in light of his training. He seeks to bring his skills and perspective to the table.
“Typically [my goal] is … the dissemination of information, driving content to a particular public,” Glaude said. “To put it differently, offer more information to the people who follow me to think more carefully about the issue at hand.”
Despite the fanfare and noise that often accompanies social media, Glaude said he takes his presence on Twitter and Facebook very seriously and claims that he is only on those platforms to create an “occasion” to deliberate together.
“It’s not a micro-reality show to me,” Glaude said. “The way in which I approach social media is to expand the scope and reach of the conversation, because what I want to do is to think seriously in public with others.”
Aside from his Twitter account, Glaude also has a Facebook.
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