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January 30, 2005
possible project
Possible project topics:
In all of my ideas for possible projects they involve revisionary work:
1). Analysis, critique, and revision of particular methods of gathering how composition was traditionally taught and who benefited the most. I am thinking here of a conversation I had with Eileen that drew my attention to the ways that women were represented in colleges. What kinds of women were in colleges at this time? (i.e. were the samples taken of middle class straight and able-bodied white women? How does that matter?)
How do we continue to critique and analyze the ways that various students did and current do construct knowledges? What were their relationships to knowledge? How does socialization play into the ways that they made sense of the world (or were allowed to) in the classroom? I am thinking here of a revision of Women’s Ways of Knowing. How can this alter our views of history, pedagogy, and practice?
2). Following this train of thought, it would be interesting to see how second wave feminism is reflected in the history of the discipline (in teaching/ scholarship). After a thorough analysis, it would be interesting to come in and continue a critique of stable categories of gender and move beyond these to suggest a re-vision of the ways in which women are represented. This would allow for a kind of identity politics which moves beyond gender and takes into account ability, race, ethnicity, sexuality, etc. I would focus both on representations of teachers (were they/are they all mothers?) as well as students.
3. Finally, I would like to do something with the ethics of care which has so pervaded the history of composition instruction. WHile I would suggest that the ethics of care is not natural or consistent for that matter, it might be cool to somehow revive it--arguing it to be an effective and productive method of instruction (like hooks talking about love for example). So, I would first have to locate instances where it is historically represented through instruction and additionally locate historical arguments for it/against it within the field. As a side note, it would be cool to somehow historicize how/when these debates erupt (paralells with wars/moves in feminisms, etc, particular entrances of students into colleges?). Ok, now I am rambling.
Posted by kaconcan at January 30, 2005 06:34 PM
Comments
Your first possibility: I can see some promise in the question of "how composition was traditionally taught and who benefited the most." One way to get at this would be to look at textbooks and/or syllabi from a particular period, and to extrapolate from them their imagined purpose, audience, etc. The University of New Hampshire library has a huge repository of comp textbooks; the University of Rhode Island library has a huge repository of syllabi; and of course there are local resources with which you could begin.
Second possibility: I'm assuming you'd do this through a critique of scholarship?
Third possibility: For this course, focus on "instances where it is historically represented through instruction and . . . historical arguments for it/against it within the field."
Fourth possibility, which you emailed to me ("would it be more beneficial for me to do something with my harassment work? I would have much more access to historical work, although this project would move a bit outside of comp and pay closer attention to historical issues in the world (court cases, etc). It would work nicely with this ethics of care business, though. And, I might be able to identify certain schools who have harassment policies (ones that I like) and trace what the exigencies were..."): The challenge here would be for your project to be composition history. Is there an issue involving harassment within comp that you could investigate? Maybe something in the pedagogical literature?
Posted by: senioritis at February 6, 2005 11:49 AM
i love the idea of looking at pedagogical literature in an attempt to draw some conclusions as to why composition HAS NOT taken up issues of sexual harassment in the classroom, until around 1996. I guess I could analyze issues of resistence, etc and how they historically intersect with various historical moments in pedagogy/practice.
Posted by: kelly at February 6, 2005 04:15 PM
Go for it. Now the question is how. Some of the stuff in the feminist pedagogy bibliography might be good sources to analyze.
And what happened in 96?
Posted by: senioritis at February 6, 2005 07:28 PM