This article employs what the author calls “foundational” intersectional analysis to investigate the coalitional and rhetorical strategies mobilized by Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot initiative in California designed to eliminate the right of same-sex marriage. The author argues that foundational intersectionality is the only method that sufficiently contextualizes the historical legacies constructing the political institution of marriage and that this method must incorporate the factor of religion, because religion is central to the politics of “moral values.” The first part of the article differentiates foundational intersectionality from identity intersectionality as a framework. The author then sketches how marriage is a political institution constructed in the United States through the simultaneous interactions of gender, sexuality, race, and religion. The second part of the article applies the framework to an empirical analysis of four discursive strategies employed by pro— and anti—same-sex marriage forces in California in order to “link their fate,” or sense of political alliance, to other groups.

This article lays out the pedagogical benefits of using popular zombie productions, particularly AMC's The Walking Dead, to teach a critical introduction to modern political theory. Based on my undergraduate course: "Political Theory, Climate Change, and the Zombie Apocalypse," the article outlines how The Walking Dead can be used to critique the mythic assumptions built into modern social contract theory; to introduce other political ideologies, including conservatism, anarchism, fascism, and communism; and to consider the political challenges raised by a global problem such as climate change in an increasingly neoliberal environment. Zombie productions are offered as a particularly salient pedagogical tool that can help awaken critical political analysis for the Millennial Generation.

Indigenous politics and history are central to and, indeed, intertwined with the history and politics of many if not most contemporary nations, yet the topics of indigenous politics and settler colonialism are rarely taught in undergraduate political science programs. This article outlines the pedagogical utility of an undergraduate course focused on indigenous history and politics, approached through a comparative race politics framework. The course on which this article is based compares state power and indigenous rights in the United States, Australia, and Latin America in historical context, but many variations are possible. The article first reviews the context for developing the course, the challenges related to teaching the subject, and my primary teaching objectives. It then outlines three pedagogical strategies applicable in other course frameworks and discusses positive learning outcomes I have observed as I refine this teaching area.

In Experiment I, the percentages of responses accompanied by confirming (%R) and infirming (%W) informative feedback were shown to affect total trials to solution in a 4-category card-sorting task. Number of feedback trials, however, was invariant across conditions, casting doubt on interpretations which attribute differing informational or reinforcing values to R and W signals. An attempt (Experiment II) to increase the reinforcing effects of R and W by pairing them with monetary gain and loss was unsuccessful, the results under 4 different payoff arrangements being entirely consistent with Experiment I.

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