Episode 24: On Ferguson

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Oct 242014
 

Can’t we find more creative ways to report these stories? The story of Michael Brown is so important, but we get trapped, I think, in this narrow narrative that we’ve been telling for a really long time. —Tessa Brown

Social media and mobile technology has particularly been important for people of color, for working class people, for immigrants, for LGBT people, people who belong to groups who have been traditionally marginalized in the media because they don’t have to not only wait for the media to tell their stories but they also don’t have to wait to have their stories be misconstrued, too, and have their stories misinterpreted.   —Sherri Williams

These aren’t just flukes, these aren’t just accidents, these aren’t just deviations from an otherwise decent society. The whole society is bankrupt, its corrupt, its racist, its sexist, its homophobic, and ablist and because this is an entrenched deep issue it is going to have to be an entrenched long-term kind of movement to fight those kinds of things.  —Nikeeta Slade

The image shows a screenshot of The Root's tweet featuring an image that went viral during Ferguson protests. The image features a black man with his back to the camera, hands in the air. Facing us are approximately 10 police officers in full riot gear, at least 4 of whom are actively pointing guns at the unarmed citizen.

Tweet from The Root, Aug. 12: “Days after #MikeBrown’s death, #Ferguson looks like a war zone (via @micnews): bit.ly/1orU2GF

Episode 24 focuses on media representations of Ferguson, Missouri after the killing of Mike Brown. As Ben notes in the introduction, This Rhetorical Life focuses on the practice, pedagogy, and public circulation of rhetoric. By focusing on Ferguson, we connect all three: how rhetoric circulates around Ferguson, how our public texts work to either create and sustain or to challenge and resist unjust systems, and how we as writing instructors can help students analyze and flip unjust systems. This episode features interviews with three Syracuse graduate students: Tessa Brown, Sherri Williams, and Nikeeta Slade.

To access a PDF of the full transcript, please click here: Transcript for Episode 24

The music sampled in this podcast is “Strange Arithmetic” by The Coup, “Note Drop” by Broke For Free, “EMO Step Show” by The Custodian of Records, and “This is the End” By Springtide.

 

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Episode 23: Women Scholars of Computers & Writing

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Sep 262014
 

Even as I sort of talk about the notion of community, though, I think that it’s important to problematize that emphasis because it suggests a homogeneity that may inadvertently exclude other voices or presume that a gender issue isn’t also a race issue, a class issue, a sexuality issue. So I think it’s very important even as we sort of try to come together and be advocates and change agents to really use this conference through venues such as the gender caucus tomorrow and the race caucus a little later this afternoon to problematize and not presume that everyone feels included—that we’re one big happy family. Because that’s not realistic. Every community operates within a system of power, and who feels enabled by that, and who feels disenfranchised? — Kris Blair

Telephone operator and switchboard, Kalamazoo, Michigan. RPPC, Postmarked 1908. Image Credit: Wystan. http://bit.ly/1rojU6h

Telephone operator and switchboard, Kalamazoo, Michigan. RPPC, Postmarked 1908. Image Credit: Wystan. http://bit.ly/1rojU6h

Episode 23 is a special compilation of statements collected from this past year’s Computers & Writing in Pullman, WA. Inspired in part by the excellent line of female keynotes (on disability, access, and women in technology fields), the second year of the gender caucus, and a general urgency in the field—and beyond—to discuss what it’s like to be a woman working and researching and teaching in a male-dominated field, we put out a call for women scholars to share their experiences in the field. This podcast features statements from 12 teacher-scholars ranging from graduate students who attended C&W for the first time to women who have actively shaped the field.

To access a PDF of the full transcript, please click here: Transcript for Episode 23

The music sampled in this podcast is “Por Supuesto,” “Blessed,” and “Not the Droid” by Podington Bear, “Homesick” by Keytronic, and “Rain-bow Window” by Diaphane.

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Episode 21: Reflections on Latin@ Rhetorics

 this rhetorical life  1 Response »
May 092014
 

“The ethos of Latina/o Rhetoric is embodied in many of the traditions of resistance that link back to first contact with Europeans in the Americas spanning across time and space to current moments and sites of resistance. Whether it’s the colonialism of Columbus or the neocolonialism of states like Arizona, Latina/o rhetoricians are not lacking in moments of kairos or polemics in the polis that necessitate rhetorical invention to communicate and respond to dominant systems of power.” – Cruz Medina

Fall 2013 cover of Reflections, "Latin@s in Public Rhetoric, Civic Writing, and Service Learning"

Episode 21 features a collaboration with the Fall 2013 special issue of Reflections: “Latin@s in Public Rhetoric, Civic Writing, and Service-Learning” about how scholars are defining Latina/o rhetorics and why it’s an important issue for the field right now.

To read a PDF of the full transcript, please download it here: Transcript for Episode 21

The music sampled in this podcast is “The Afterlife” by YACHT, “Readers! Do You Read?” by Chris Zabriskie, “Tea Top” by ROW, and “Separate Ways Remix” and “Walking All Day Long” by Willbe.

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