composition » This Rhetorical Life

A lot of times, contingent faculty do an incredible job of being incredibly professional in unprofessional working conditions. I think that’s the first big cost: the humanity and the economic stability of those folks who are in contingent positions—many of whom are grad students, people who have earned Master’s degrees or Ph.D.s, and obviously made commitments to being in higher education and commitments to wanting to teach and be with students. And, ironically, that group that is often the most committed to teaching—the most committed to being there for students—has to just struggle to be in something that they love to do. — Eileen Schell

http://www.presenttensejournal.org

We’re happy to share a special collaboration with Present Tense: A Journal of Rhetoric in Society for Episode 20! Academic labor is something that greatly concerns us as graduate students, and we think it’s an important concern for both full-time faculty and contingent faculty. That’s why this podcast features the voices of both full-time (Eileen Schell and Tony Scott are both Associate Professors of Writing and Rhetoric at Syracuse University) and contingent faculty (Jeff Simmons is a Professional Writing Instructor at Syracuse University).

To read a PDF of the full transcript, please download it here: Transcript for Episode 20

The music sampled in this podcast is “N35-40-19-800” by Springtide and “Adventure, Darling” and “Multitudes” by Gillicuddy.

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I teach one course where I focus on sense of place and really look at environmental or urban planning issues, eventually large problem spaces as I would call them, but they often begin from a personal journey: where the sidewalk ends in front of your house, when you’re forced to change modes of transportation. That tells you something about how we live and where we are or places they have come to know as children and love, and I think that’s always a good place to anchor somebody. Why do they care about this park, and who takes care of it? What does that mean about other places like it or people who don’t have access to beautiful spaces like that?

So I think at some point, you do want to narrow into some space, but I think understanding the richness of these spaces is really important because otherwise you’re just becoming sort of the imperial person moving in there maybe with good intentions but not with learning.

Image shows Gesa Kirsch reading at the Rhetorical Listening Symposium. She stands in front of a seated audience.

Gesa Kirsch presents at the Rhetorical Listening Symposium at Syracuse University, October 30, 2014.

Episode 17 features an interview with Gesa Kirsch who presented her talk, “Mindfulness, Creativity, and Feminist Rhetorical Practices,” at the Rhetorical Listening & Composition Colloquium and Workshop Series. In this podcast, Kirsch focuses on pedagogical concerns related to listening, mindfulness, and civic engagement.

To read a PDF of the full transcript, please download it here: Transcript for Episode 17

The music sampled in this podcast is “Namer” by Higher Places, “Note Drop” by Broke for Free, and “Biomythos” by Revolution Void.

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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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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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This Rhetorical Life

Episode 20: Thinking Collectively about Academic Labor

Episode 17: Mindfulness and Composition with Gesa Kirsch

Episode 10: Interview with Rebecca Dingo

Episode 4: Interview with Jason Palmeri