March 10, 2005
Self-antifoundationalism
In class today E made the mistake of remarking on the elision of African Americans in histories of composition. Hence my class was treated to a fine example of just how antifoundationalist I am: I don't even regard my own syllabus as sacrosanct. (And what more sacred artifact could a teacher possibly worship?) So, pushed over the precipice by E, I am succumbing to the temptation to lead the entire class into the intellectual morass in which I find myself: trying to contextualize the rise of composition in the socioeconomic conditions of the U.S. We're going to read Nell Irvin Painter, damn it. The labor history gets a little dry but is well worth the effort. And the juxtaposition of that raced labor history with the rise of composition is (from my perspective, anyhow) kinetic. Maybe one of my Esteemed Grad Students will decide to wade through my intellectual morass and do some serious scholarly inquiry into the question. (The dear hope of every grad school teacher, no doubt. But hey—C has taken up the historicizing of Porter Perrin, so lightning could strike again!)
Posted by senioritis at March 10, 2005 06:04 PM
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