The Reconquista Student: Critical Information Literacy, Civics, and Confronting Student Intolerance

Given the increasing power and prominence of political figures in the United States who openly espouse xenophobic, misogynistic, white nationalist positions, it is only natural to anticipate encountering students who express these views in our libraries and classrooms. This essay uses a classroom encounter with a student expressing xenophobic sentiments as a way to explore the following questions: As someone heavily influenced by a great deal of Critical Information Literacy (CIL) literature, why was I so flummoxed upon encountering this student's perspective? Why did I find the intellectual resources that I had drawn from to shape my classroom pedagogy inadequate? Using the methods of normative political theory, the essay draws from CIL literature emphasizing intuitional questioning and resistance, and civic education literature emphasizing institutional participation. The essay concludes by arguing that the political theorist Chantal Mouffe's radical democratic pluralism provides librarians with a theoretical framework that can accommodate both insurgency and institutional participation when encountering intolerance.