Critical Pedagogy
Gallagher (2004): Radical Departures
Gallagher, Chris W. Radical Departures: Composition and Progressive Pedagogy. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002. In Radical Departures, Gallagher writes against our commonplace notion of progressive, a term “often used unreflectively as a term of approbation†(xiii). Compositions studies, he notes, views itself as progressive in two ways: 1) as left-leaning; and 2) as progressing from a [...]
Greenbaum: Emancipatory Movements in Composition (2002)
Emancipatory Movements in Composition: The Rhetoric of Possibility by Andrea Greenbaum My review rating: 2 of 5 starsAs I read Greenbaum’s Emancipatory Movements in Composition, I was struck with a problem of genre and purpose. I picked up the book expected a new argument that would offer me new insights, but instead I found a [...]
Giroux: “Who Writes in a Cultural Studies Class?”
In “Who Writes in a Cultural Studies Class? or, Where Is the Pedagogy,” Henry Giroux critiques his own classroom pedagogy and describes his attempt to decenter authority in the classroom and introduce border writing, in order to argue for “re-inserting the language of pedagogy and politics back into the discourse of cultural studies” (4). Follwing [...]
what do we mean by liberty?
In his 2005 essay “Liberating ‘Liberatory’ Education, or What Do We mean by ‘Liberty’ Anyway?“, Jeffrey Ringer critiques the work of critical pedagogues in composition who do not reflect critically on their use of the concept of liberty. He writes that his “central concern [...] deals with the way in which North Americans have habitualized [...]
on “The Rhetorician as an Agent of Social Change”
Lisa also suggested that I read Cushman’s article “The Rhetorician as an Agent of Social Change,” which I enjoyed a lot. She advocates for crossing the ivory tower/reality divide that separates universities and their work from the real life work of citizens. She claims that “we need to take into our accounts of social change [...]
a pedagogy of shame
In preparation for Luke and my conference talk “Towards a Less Oppressive Social Justice Pedagogy,” I am reading Sandra Lee Bartky’s “The Pedagogy of Shame.” While Bartky is most concerned with the way we systematically shame women in classrooms, leaving them feeling inadequate and having less self-esteem than men, her discussion on shame is pertinent [...]
on the autonomous self
I have to lead class discussion in feminist philosophies on the following article tomorrow morning: Grimshaw, Jean. “Autonomy and Identity in Feminist Thinking.“ Feminist Perspectives in Philosophy. Ed. Morwenna Griffiths and Margaret Whitford. Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1988. 90-108. In “Autonomy and Identity in Feminist Thinking,“ Jean Grimshaw deconstructs the feminist assumption that there is [...]
On Chapter 2 of Changing the Subject in English Class
Alcorn makes a strong case in this chapter that “rhetoric of discourse is libinal” (26) and that “libidinal structure is always ideological. Libidinal structures are inesapably ideological because all meanings and all feelings operate as meanings in an ideological context” (25). He critiqutes James Berlin’s pedagogy (his two modes of freedom: 1) teacher offers “social [...]
Thelin’s vision of the English Classroom
I love it when College English and CCC come in the mail. I’ve been getting better with these journals, dropping whatever I’m doing and at least looking at the table of contents. This is an improvement over when I taught middle school and just didn’t even time to flip through the English Journal that came [...]
philosophy digest #6
Here is my reading digest for Critical Social Theory that’s due tomorrow: Habermas, Jürgen. “Toward a Reconstruction of Historical Materialism“ and “Social Action and Rationality.“ Translated by Thomas McCarthy. Marcuse, Herbert. “Liberation from the Affluent Society.“ in Critical Theory and Society: A Reader, edited by Stephen Eric Bronner and Douglas MacKay Kellner, 276-287. New York: [...]
