Episode 27: Addressing Racism in the Classroom

 this rhetorical life  No Responses »
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 18: Rhetorical Listening with Krista Ratcliffe

 this rhetorical life  No Responses »
Feb 072014
 

I didn’t really want people taking a stance of feeling responsible for racism. We were all born into a system where that preexisted all of us, but to what extent are we accountable for the now?

Black and white image of Ratcliffe standing in front of a crowd, reading from a piece of paper and pointing her finger emphatically. Text reads, "Rhetorical Listening with Krista Ratcliffe."

Krista Ratcliffe presents at the Rhetorical Listening Symposium at Syracuse University, November 13, 2014.

Episode 18 features an interview with Krista Ratcliffe who presented her talk, “Rhetorical Listening: What’s Next?” at the Rhetorical Listening & Composition Colloquium and Workshop Series. In this podcast, Ratcliffe focuses on civic discourse, cultural logics, and how rhetorical listening occurs in the classroom.

To read a PDF of the full transcript, please download it here: Transcript for Episode 18

The music sampled in this podcast is “Horizontal Drift” and “Twinkle Toes Delux” by Jared C Balogh and “Tea Top” by ROW.

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Episode 15: The Politics of Pedagogy with Naeem Inayatullah

 this rhetorical life  No Responses »
Nov 152013
 

We want to enact social justice in our classrooms. We try to do this by considering diverse student bodies, incorporating multimodality into our classrooms, developing equitable assessment, and so much more. What about participation and democracy? Even if we value participation and democracy in our classes, what do these concepts look like in reality? And what about the pesky problem of authority? What about the unequal power relations between teacher and student?

A photo of Naeem in dress clothes--white button-down shirt, tie, dark slacks, with a book in his hand, standing in a classroom.

Naeem Inayatullah in the classroom (image via The Ithacan)

Episode 15 features an interview with Naeem Inayatullah, Professor and Chair of the Department of Politics at Ithaca College, who describes his pedagogical approach in the classroom: an approach he describes as Socratic, collective improvisation. This approach is at once radical and reflexive, informed by Lacan and addressing the power inequalities that exist in the classroom.

To read a PDF of the full transcript, please download it here: Episode 15 Transcript

The music sampled in this podcast is “Budgerigar Vishnu” by Vinod Prassana.

 

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Episode 7: Transnational Feminism Panel

 pedagogy, research, rhetoric, this rhetorical life  No Responses »
Apr 122013
 

From a feminist perspective, what does it mean to live a rhetorical life in a globalized world? Why is a feminist perspective productive for 2013? What are important sites and lived spaces in which we need to be rhetorical? How do you bring a feminist perspective that highlights a transnational world into your teaching, your administrative duties, your service work, your field commitments, personal life, and your activism? How do you locate transnational issues and sites that are important? And finally, how do you enact a feminist transnational method?

On March 22nd, the CCR Graduate Circle hosted our first live-recorded podcast event:  “Feminist Perspectives on Living a Rhetorical Life in a Transnational World.” To facilitate this conversation, we invited a range of diverse speakers with different areas and levels of expertise on transnational feminism and rhetorical studies. Participants in the panel included Rebecca Dingo, Dana Olwan, Anna Hensley, Tim Dougherty, and Eileen Schell.

Image of "transnational" woman's face.

“Feminist Perspectives on Living a Rhetorical Life in a Transnational World.” Image created by Seth Long.

To read a PDF of the full transcript, please download it here: Transcript for Episode 7.

The music sampled in this podcast is “Stay the Same” by Bonobo.

 

 

 

 

 

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Episode 4: Interview with Jason Palmeri

 book review, pedagogy, this rhetorical life  1 Response »
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

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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