Bryan Trabold, PhD

Education

• Ph.D. English, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• M.A. English, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• B.A. English Literature, The George Washington University
• B.A. Political Science, The George Washington University

Research Interests

My research examines the strategies writers develop to circumvent censorship restrictions. My current project focuses on resistance to white supremacy both in the United States and internationally.

Teaching Philosophy

My classes introduce students to voices and historical narratives that are often marginalized, if not excluded entirely, in high school curricula and mainstream American media sources. My discussion-intensive classes invite students to reflect on the dynamics of power that marginalize these voices, what we learn about our past and present when we consider these perspectives, and how this knowledge has the potential to help create and sustain a genuine multiracial democracy.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

• Research Associate, Visual Identities in Art and Design Centre, University of Johannesburg (2018 – 2020)

Grants, Awards, Honors, and Recognitions

• National Endowment for the Humanities summer stipend (2008)

Recent Scholarly Contributions

Book

• Trabold, B. (2018). Rhetorics of resistance: Opposition journalism in apartheid South Africa. University of Pittsburgh Press.

Articles And Book Chapters

• Trabold, B. (Forthcoming). Resisting anti-CRT laws: Lessons from apartheid South Africa. Radical Teacher.
• Trabold, B. (2023). We risked a whole newspaper: Thami Mkhwanazi’s Robben Island series and the Weekly Mail. In David Swick and Richard Lance Keeble (Eds.), Literary Journalism Goes Inside Prison: Just Sentences (pp. 161-177). Routledge.
• Trabold, B. (2022). The involvement of the state had to be a secret: The impact of Vrye Weekblad and Weekly Mail exposés on the apartheid government and its conservative apologists in the United States. South African Historical Journal, 74(2), 308-333
• Trabold, B. (2010). Historical narratives as a rhetoric of resistance in apartheid South Africa: The History Workshop and the New Nation. South African Historical Journal, 62(4), 735–752