Composition, Literacy, and Culture

English has become the language of choice for global economic, political, and cultural exchange. Many developing countries (and, notably, many former Soviet bloc countries) have little choice but to “buy into English” as a path to ideological and material betterment. As Catherine Prendergast reveals, however, investing in English has not always been easy and has often disappointed expectations.

Contests the assumption that vitalism and contemporary rhetoric represent opposing, disconnected poles in the writing tradition. Vitalism has been historically linked to expressivism and dismissed as innate and unteachable, whereas rhetoric is seen as a rational, teachable method for producing argumentative texts. Hawk calls for the reexamination of current pedagogies to incorporate vitalism and complexity theory and argues for their application in the environments where students write and think today.

Winner of the 2007 JAC W. Ross Winterowd Award Honorable Mention, 2007 MLA Mina P. Shaughnessy Prize

An original and significant study of the developmental diversity within the discipline of composition that opens the door to further examination of local histories as guideposts to the origins of composition studies.

A critique of current pedagogies that introduces a psychoanalytical approach in teaching composition and rhetoric. Thomas Rickert builds upon the advances of cultural studies and its focus on societal trends and broadens this view by placing attention on the conscious and subconscious thought of the individual.

Winner, 2007 JAC Gary A. Olson Award

Tim Mayers explores the nature of the contemporary English department with the intent of drawing connections between the usually separate fields of creative writing and composition studies.

Scholars of rhetoric, composition, and communications analyze how discourse is used to construct working-class identities. The essays connect working-class identity to issues of race, gender, and sexuality, among others.

The book examines the complex and sophisticated efforts of American Indian writers and orators to constructively engage an often hostile and resistant white audience through language and other symbol systems.

Looks at ways to encourage American public discussion of issues that matter to democracy, particularly hoping to find arguments that can reach across the divide between liberalism and Christian fundamentalism in the discussion of civic issues.

Winner of the 2006 JAC Gary A. Olson AwardWinner of the 2008 Rhetoric Society of America Book AwardWinner of the 2008 CCCC Outstanding Book AwardWinner of the 2007 NCTE David H. Russell Award

Sarah Robbins identifies and defines a new genre in American letters—the domestic literacy narrative—and provides a cultural history of its development throughout the nineteenth century.

Winner of an Outstanding Academic Title Award from Choice Magazine (2006).

Richard E. Miller questions the current views of the relationship between the humanities and daily life, and proposes that, in the face of increasing violence, the humanities should become more important, not less.

Winner of the 2006 CEE James H. Britton Award

Relying on Gestalt theory, this work describes the relationship between literacy and change in both personal and social situations. It presents historical and contemporary case studies, emphasizing the ways language interacts with perception.

Thomas Masters examines a pivotal era—the years following arrival of former soldiers on college campuses thanks to the GI Bill—in the history of the most ubiquitous and most problematic course offered in America: freshman English.

Crossing Borderlands contains essays examining the intersection between composition and postcolonial studies, two fields that seek to provide power to the words and actions of those who have been marginalized or oppressed.

Mariolina Salvatori presents an anthology of documents that examine the evolution of American education in the nineteenth century and meaning of the word pedagogy.

Offers a critique of current scholarly publishing practices, exposing the inequalities in the way academic knowledge is constructed and legitimized.

Winner of the 2002 JAC Gary A. Olson Award