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Episode 27: Addressing Racism in the Classroom

Feb 202015

I started the research really struggling to understand how seemingly good people could say such awful things, and that’s really what I wanted to understand. I think what I found is that people are not all one thing or another. They aren’t as awful as they seem in a particular moment. Our students are struggling I think to make sense of the world. –Jennifer Trainor

The image features The Rock at MSU, spray painted white with black handprints and bold text that reads #DONTSHOOT. There are green trees in the background a pale blue and pick sky at dusk. The text over the image reads, "(anti-)racism in the classroom: an interview with Jennifer Trainor"

The Rock at Michigan State University painted #DONTSHOOT (September 2014)

As educators, we ought to discuss issues of racism and structural inequality in our classes. How do we do this with students who are in the process of forming their identities, beliefs, and values? Episode 27 features an interview with Jennifer Seibel Trainor, author of Rethinking Racism: Emotion, Persuasion, and Literacy Education in an All-White High School. In this episode, Trainor addresses anti-racist pedagogies and how we can talk about racism productively with students in the classroom, particularly when students may feel defensive about these issues. Trainor argues that we need to read deeper into the racist comments students make in the classroom to try to understand why they’re saying what they’re saying. You can read a review of Trainor’s book in Composition Forum here: http://compositionforum.com/issue/19/rethinking-racism-review.php

To access a PDF of the full transcript of this episode, please click here: Episode 27 Transcript.

The songs sampled in this episode are “Biomythos” by Revolution Void and “From Stardust to Sentience” by High Places.

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Episode 16: A One-Woman Show with Elaine Richardson

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Dec 042013

[P]eople say things around you all the time that make you feel like you’re not normal, and so even though people probably look at that, “Well how can you say that you loved a pimp?” Or, “How could you even think that a pimp loved you?” Like I said, people put you in a box and label you, and nobody really is normal. How do we know what that is? What does that mean? We’re all human beings. What does that mean that we’re not normal, you know what I mean? We all feel love, pain, hate. We feel all the things that human beings can feel—jealousy, everything! When you consume that abnormality from the people around you, you believe it. It’s complicated.

Image shows Elaine Richardson dancing--arm outstretched and head turned to the side. Her mouth is open as she sings. Behind her is a projected image of her mother with an accompanying news article.

Elaine Richardson dancing and singing during her one-woman show at Syracuse University, October 17, 2013

Episode 16 features a lively interview with Elaine Richardson who performed her one-woman show based on excerpts from her recent memoir—PHD to PhD: How Education Saved My Life—at Syracuse University on October 17th. In this interview, she and CCR’s Seth Davis discuss the memoir, African American rhetoric and language diversity, the George Zimmerman trial, and even RuPaul (and his rhetorical agility!).

To read a PDF of the full transcript, please download it here: Transcript for Episode 16. Thanks for listening to This Rhetorical Life.

The music sampled in this podcast is “Lost Tape” by Loopez and “ZootSuit” by Tab & Anitek.

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Episode 10: Interview with Rebecca Dingo

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Jul 162013

In Networking Arguments, Rebecca Dingo enacts a feminist transnational rhetorical analysis of global policies and conferences that are about women’s role in a global economy. Focusing on three rhetorical commonplaces—gender mainstreaming, fitness, and empowerment—Dingo extends traditional rhetorical analysis to account for how arguments shift rhetorically as they are networked. Our conversation begins by us discussing the differences between the three feminist transnational terms Dingo uses to explain exactly how rhetorics shift: transcoding, ideological trafficking, and interarticulation. As we talk about gender mainstreaming—the development of policies that are intended to promote gender equality and women’s best interests—and women’s empowerment, we discuss how transcoding, ideological trafficking, and interarticulation offer different nuanced ways that these well-intending rhetorics shift and are distorted.

An image of Dingo's book cover: Networking Arguments. A night image of people standing on the sidewalk at Times Square.

Networking Arguments: Rhetoric, Transnational Feminism, and Public Policy Writing

Episode 10 features CCR student Kate Navickas interviewing Rebecca Dingo. A follow-up to the transnational feminism panel held in March (which you can listen to here), Dingo discusses both the theoretical and practical concepts highlighted in her book, Networking Arguments.

To read a PDF of the full transcript, please download it here: Transcript for Episode 10

The music sampled in this podcast is Yacht’s “We Have All We Ever Wanted,” “Emo Step Show” by Custodian of Records, and “Golden” by High Places.

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Episode 4: Interview with Jason Palmeri

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Mar 012013

As writers and composition instructors, we struggle to keep up with the influx of new tools and composing spaces, from Twitter and WordPress to tablets and smartphones. Though the digital age might have us believe we live in a unique era, we have always been multimodal, forced to choose between traditional alphabetic writing and other modes of communication, such as speaking, listening, and image making. Or at least, that’s what Jason Palmeri argues in his engaging new book, Remixing Composition, released last spring by Southern Illinois Press.

Remixing Composition: A History of Multimodal Writing Pedagogy by Jason Palmeri

Episode 4 features Jason Palmeri discussing digital and multimodal composing, the challenges of incorporating multimodality into our curricula, and the importance of interdisciplinarity.

To read a PDF of the full transcript, please download it here: Transcript for Episode 4.

The music sampled in this podcast is “One Word Extinguisher” by Prefuse 73.

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Episode 3: The Political Economy of Composition with Tony Scott

Assessment, book review, this rhetorical life, WPA 1 Response »

Feb 152013

Central to our work in Composition and Cultural Rhetoric is the teaching of first year writing. Regardless of your position in the university, you have inevitably found yourself or still find yourself sitting in a dungeon on the bottom floor of a building in a cubicle grading papers, meeting with students, and chatting with colleagues about how life is really unfair. No doubt during one of those venting sessions you have dreamt about how wonderful it would be to be paid more, to have fewer students in each of your classes, and to have more freedom in your classroom to teach what students want and need to learn.

Dangerous Writing: Understanding the Political Economy of Composition by Tony Scott

Episode 3 features Professor Tony Scott talking about the influence and ongoing relevance of his book Dangerous Writing: Understanding the Political Economy of Composition.

To read a PDF of the full transcript, please download it here: Transcript for Episode 3.

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