2026-06-26 –, Room 106 (Seats 105)
The WHA Annual Meeting asks, “how can we write, teach, and think about world history in a moment characterized both by global entanglement and anti-globalist politics?” This roundtable is envisioned as a chance to bring together secondary and college-level educators who come from training in various regions and specializations to reflect on how we teach world history today. The goal for this roundtable is to prioritize conversation, pedagogical exchange, and practical insight on the shared challenges instructors at both the secondary and undergraduate levels face in an increasingly politicized classroom. We will explore how the current social, political, and economic environment of the U.S. is influencing our teaching of world history, as well as how we negotiate our own political/ideological position in the classroom. Responding directly to the conference theme, “Closed Borders and Global Connections: Being Global after Globalization,” participants will examine how anti-globalist rhetoric, culture-war politics, post-truth narratives fueled by social media/AI, and ideological polarization are shaping classroom dynamics, curricular design, and student engagement. By bridging secondary and higher education perspectives, this roundtable aims to produce practical insights for navigating politicized classrooms while sustaining the intellectual integrity and global scope of world history.
Jack Gronau is an Instructor of History at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. Since joining the Academy in 2023 he has developed a new senior elective, "Dictators and Demagogues: Illiberal Regimes in the 20th Century,” and designed a study abroad trip to Paris and Kraków, that analyzes the divergence of the Jewish experience in Western and Eastern Europe during the Holocaust. He recently became the Academy's newest Director of the Washington Interns Program, a Congressional internship program with roots stretching back to 1968.
Dr. Matthew Bowser is an Assistant Professor of Modern World History at Ohio Wesleyan University. He is the author of Containing Decolonisation: British Imperialism and the Politics of Race in Late Colonial Burma, which was published with Manchester University Press in September 2025. His research focuses on decolonization in Southeast Asia, examining the intersections of imperialism, race, nationalism, and capitalism in the process of achieving independence from colonial rule. His work has been published in the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, the Journal of Asian Studies, and the Journal of Modern Asian Studies.
Judi Freeman joined the World History Association as Executive Director in December 2025. She is an art historian by training, working as a museum curator and educator focused on modern and contemporary European and American art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Portland Museum of Art. She is the editor/author of The Dada and Surrealist Word-Image (1989), The Fauve Landscape (1990), Mark Tansey (1993), and Picasso and the Weeping Woman (1994). She shifted her career to education and served for 24 years as the Seevak Chair in History at Boston Latin School, the oldest public school in the United States, where she was teaching modern global history, the history of art, and co-creating the school's first Senior Capstone program and course. Judi is currently completing a biography of 20th century American journalist Dorothy Thompson.
Monica Ketchum-Cardenas is Professor of History and Sociology at Arizona Western College, and a Lecturer in History and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at SDSU-Imperial Valley. She holds degrees in history, with an emphasis in Latin American and world histories; sociology; global affairs; and college teaching and learning. Her work focuses on teaching innovation and curriculum development in history and sociology, and promoting the adoption of OER. Monica was awarded a Fulbright-Hays GPA scholarship to Central Asia, was an Engaging Eurasia Teaching Fellow at Harvard University and a Global Fellow at The Ohio State University. She has served as a delegate for Soroptimist International to the UN Commission on the Status of Women since 2023, and is the Arizona Council for History Education president. When not in the classroom, she is creating art, travelling, and working in the community addressing education access, human trafficking, and gender-based violence.