SocialJustice forum Baumlin Jensen – Language, Literature, and Interdisciplinary Studies

Task of the Intellectual in a Time of Crisis: An Appeal to Colleagues

James S. Baumlin | Missouri State University

ORCiD ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5837-8669

George H. Jensen | University of Arkansas at Little Rock

ORCiD ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7680-5508

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.71106/BWKR9483

Publication: Social Justice Special Issue

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Abstract | This road away from freedom that the West is currently taking is a powerful reminder that, in a globalized, mediatized, and hyperconnected world, new forms of (fascist) political pathologies do not stop at national borders—let alone walls. Instead, in the age of the Internet, they spread contagiously, via a proliferation of new, transnational media and the cyberwars they trigger. These hypermimetic wars dissolve not only the very conception of clearly defined borders, but also the ontological distinction between self and others, originals and copies, truths and lies, virtual attacks and real attacks.

— Nidesh Lawtoo, (New) Fascism: Contagion, Community, Myth (2019; xxxiv)

We write as educators and are making this appeal to colleagues here in the U.S. and abroad. Hurled down this “road away from freedom” (Lawtoo), we find ourselves in a not-so-brave new world, one that seems to break with history and to break history itself. In such times, it is important to situate ourselves in our own history.

Key words | Academia, Intellectuals, Educators, University, Social Justice, Pluralism, Fascism, Democracy, Historical Consciousness, U.S. Politics

James S. Baumlin (jbaumlin@missouristate.edu; ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5837-8669) is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Missouri State University, USA, where he has taught coursework in early-modern English literature (Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton), critical theories, and the history of rhetoric. He has published extensively in these fields, as well as in rhetorical theory, creative nonfiction, and composition pedagogy. His current research focuses on the history of Western ethos from antiquity to the present day. Among his many honors and awards is an election to membership in the International Association of University Professors of English (IAUPE, an affiliate of the UNESCO-sponsored International Federation of Modern Languages and Literatures) and receipt of an Excellence in English award, presented by the English-Speaking Union, H.R.H. Prince Philip presiding.

George H. Jensen (ghjensen@ualr.edu; ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7680-5508) is Professor Emeritus, Department of Rhetoric and Writing, University of Arkansas Little Rock, USA. A pioneer in the development of personality theories of writing, he has written extensively on the application of Jungian personality types to the teaching of composition. His books include Personality and the Teaching of Composition (with John K. DiTiberio, 1989), Storytelling in Alcoholics Anonymous: A Rhetorical Analysis (2000), Identities Across Texts (2002), The Ethics of Creative Nonfiction (2024), and Norman Maclean’s ‘A River Runs through It: The Search for Beauty (with Heidi Skurat McCauley, 2024). He also publishes on Democratic Vistas on Substack.

MLA Citation for this Article:

Baumlin, James S., George H. Jensen. “Task of the Intellectual in a Time of Crisis: An Appeal to Colleagues.” Language, Literature, and Interdisciplinary Studies, Social Justice Special Issue, 31 Dec. 2025, pp. 1.47–1.52, https://doi.org/10.71106/BWKR9483.