Published: Oct. 26, 2016

Professor Kira Hall (-Boulder Linguistics), Professor Donna M. Goldstein (-BoulderAnthropology), and Matthew Bruce Ingram (Ph.D. student,UT-Austin) recently published an article titled“The Hands of Donald Trump: Entertainment, gesture, spectacle,” in the October issue ofHAU Journal of Ethnographic Theory.Theirfindings were also highlighted in Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine:

This detailed studyattributesthe success of Trump’s candidacy in the 2016 Republican primary to its value as comedic entertainment, as seen in the way Trump uses gesture to critique the political system and caricature his opponents.Indeed, in theColorado Arts and Sciences Magazinearticle,Professor Goldstein states that“...his use of a kind of ‘standup’ comedy format suspends (his audiences) from the usual stiff, staid political oratory."Professor Hall adds that“the density of his use of comedic entertainment is unprecedented in politics”.

Professor Hall was alsointerviewed on Colorado Matters (CPR/NPR) on Friday, November 18th. Listen to the interview here:

To read the original article byHall, Goldstein & Ingram, please visit: