The United States was discussed at JU LIVE

The first lecture in the popular science lecture series JU LIVE was held on Thursday, 4 September. The University Library was busy when Aron Engberg and Tobias Samuelsson discussed and talked about the United States.

“We wanted to try to create an environment that would encourage dialogue, not only between us, but also dialogue with the audience,” says Tobias Samuelsson.

Aron Engberg, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies, and Tobias Samuelsson, Professor of Social Studies, both at the School of Education and Communication at JU, were the first to give a lecture, entitled: Talking about the United States.

They discussed the significant challenges that arise when discussing the United States, both in everyday life, in education, and in research. They believe that one should be aware of this and consider what is important and true in news reporting.

The conversation focused on President Donald Trump and his considerable influence, which he uses to try to politicize the courts and universities, among other things. Under Trump's leadership, competence is subordinate to loyalty, which can be considered problematic.

In the JMW Hall, an audience of around 50 people listened attentively as Aron and Tobias asked open questions such as how we should define political developments in the United States, which terms should be used and how trends should be described. They talked about how difficult it is for the media, but also in education, to sift through information and remain objective. The Trump administration's tactic is to ‘spit out’ a lot of news, which makes it difficult to keep up and review.

“I like that JU tries to create meeting places between science and an interested public”

Tobias Samuelsson appreciates the JU LIVE format, where researchers from JU's four schools give lectures to the public.

“I like public education and meeting different people, and I think we should try to create more opportunities for contact of this kind. It was fun to “lecture”, it felt good, and people who came up after the lecture thought it was both interesting and informative. Against that background, it felt like a success,” says Tobias Samuelsson.

Niklas Gemfeldt attended the lecture with his wife who has been to several JU LIVE lectures before, but for Niklas it was his first time.

“I found it very interesting. It's nice to have these kinds of educational events for the public. It was the topic of the lecture that made me come today. They were concrete in their discussions, and it was exciting to hear about Trump's strategies, which outwardly don't seem to be strategies,” says Niklas Gemfeldt.

Aron and Tobias have previously taught a course (7.5 credits) in American politics called American Politics – Race, Class, Religion. You can read an article about it here. The plan is to offer the course again in autumn 2026.