English, Rhetoric, & Spanish

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11274/15376

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A review of Vernacular Eloquence: What Speech Can Bring to Writing
(Composition Studies, 2014) Hoermann, Jacquelyn E.; Enos, Richard Leo
On December 8, 1975, a very disturbing essay appeared in Newsweek called “Why Johnny Can’t Write.” This essay was unsettling because it publicly exposed America’s literacy problem. The title would lead any reader to believe that the problem lies with the child, but in the following decades of research we have seen that the problems associated with literacy lie not with the child but rather the system the child learns from and society’s view of what constitutes good writing. For his entire career, Peter Elbow, recently retired from The University of Massachusetts-Amherst, sought to correct this perception of the student as the problem. As the capstone to a long and prolific career, Vernacular Eloquence (VE) amasses much of Elbow’s research and experiences in teaching literacy through orality, contributing to the field a philosophy of writing that is timely, needed, and exceptionally eloquent in its own right. Elbow’s views on writing first came to national attention with his 1973 volume Writing Without Teachers, a work that challenged many assumptions about how students learn and how the process of writing unfolds. Such a radical challenge to the conventional notions of literacy and the teaching of English has not been without political consequence in academia.
Recovering the rhetorical tradition: George Campbell’s Sympathy and its Augustinian roots
(BYU ScholarsArchive, 2015) Fehler, Brian
The year 1776 saw the production of two important documents of the Enlightenment: the US Constitution and George Campbell's The Philosophy of Rhetoric. Both documents were products of Enlightenment thought, and both demonstrate the conflicting attitudes in the era toward the rhetorical use of emotional appeals. Recent scholarship by John Witte examines the religious roots of the anti-emotionalist rhetoric expressed by Federalist politicians in the Constitutional era and in particular the influence of the Calvinist clergy of New England, with their "Puritan covenantal theory of ordered liberty and orderly pluralism:' Like the Federalists who were in charge of the new US government, the Calvinists of New England not only celebrated the victory achieved in the Revolution but also worked to ensure that the new American republic did not descend into the kind of chaos that later consumed revolutionary France.
A review of Social Media in Disaster Response: How Experience Architects Can Build for Participation
(Kairos, 2015) Hoermann, Jacquelyn E.
Although the time is never right for disaster to strike, discussing effective communication strategies for disaster scenarios couldn't be more timely, especially in the wake of massive social media development. In Social Media in Disaster Response: How Experience Architects Can Build for Participation, Liza Potts' (2014) research and analysis offered productive ways for rethinking how many of us, in academia and industry, might better approach communication across networks, particularly when crisis strikes and reliable information needs to be made available (and quickly).
The 36% problem
(Springer Link, 2015-11) Scott, Gray
Student learning assessments—from the institutional level to Academically Adrift—routinely overlook the ways that plagiarism and cheating may contribute to poor outcome performance. The blind spot is a curious one. Faculty have long warned students that they must complete work honestly if they are to learn. Cognitive research offers good reasons for such warnings: Students are unlikely to improve at skills or retain content unless they think their way through the work. Yet assessors speculating about below-expectation student performance rarely consider the role of academic integrity, and few surveys on teaching effectiveness inquire into integrity policies. Drawing on cognitive and behavioral research, this paper makes a case for giving academic integrity variables more attention in assessments and studies.
Flannery O’Connor’s Hazel Motes as Sacred Rhetorician
(Center for the Study of Christian Values in Literature: Brigham Young University, 2016) Fehler, Brian
Hazel Motes, a peculiar character even among Flannery O'Connor's cast of eccentric characters, stands out among the rest because of his extreme introspection. Many O'Connor characters are alike in their desire to flaunt their odd but cherished attitudes and behaviors. But Hazel represents something else. He is a young man recently returned from war, yet his psychological peculiarities seem to have preceded that war. While Hazel, one may imagine, did not appear as an average soldier, he seems nevertheless not to have acquired any more scars in the war than he did anywhere else in his life. No, the "haunting" of Hazel Motes comes from something else (Seel 68), from, as O'Connor writes in the preface to the tenth-anniversary edition of Wise Blood (1949), "the ragged figure who moves from tree to tree in the back of his mind" ("Author's" 1265). Strangely enough, this "ragged figure" seems to push Hazel toward the city, toward spectacle-filled, circus-like Taulkinham, a city where there seems to be a place for anyone and anything- anyone except Hazel, that is.
Meditating on the move: Can cardio exercise become part of contemplative writing pedagogy?
(The Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning, 2016) Hoermann-Elliott, Jackie
When my Zyn22 spin instructor yells, “This is your time! Time to meditate on the move!” I can’t help but feel a little frustrated. Maybe I’m frustrated because the next command that often follows usually sounds like this: “Time to dig deep! Time to leave no gas in your tank!” Or maybe I’m frustrated because the act of meditation is being seen as chasing a euphoric state of sweaty bliss or objectifying the practice in front of gentrified fitness junkies. Maybe the McMindfulness thoughts I expect them to have aren’t fair assumptions though.
Rhetorical bodies in Nahum Tate’s King Lear and Ingratitude of a Common-Wealth
(Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 2016) Bender, Ashley
A literary criticism is presented on the Irish author Nahum Tate's play adaptations "The Ingratitude of a Common-Wealth; Or, the Fall of Caius Martius Coriolanus" and "History of King Lear." The plays' adaptations from the dramatic works of playwright William Shakespeare are discussed. Tate's use of the human body as metaphors for British national identity and politics is discussed.
Coming up for air from binge writing: Research to support the role of rhythm in writing performance
(The Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning, 2016-02-26) Hoermann-Elliott, Jackie
I am a binge writer. I live for and dread the days when my schedule is free enough to claim a 6- to 8-hour space for myself to write. Dr. Carrie Leverenz first introduced me to the concept of binge writing through Robert Boice’s Professors as Writers. Boice touches on issues of rhythm and repetition as early as his introduction when he stakes this claim: “When writers remain productive, they learn to make writing painless, efficient, and successful” (2). Later in that text, he refers to rhythm as an “automacity” that occurs most frequently when writers consistently control distracting stimuli and hold themselves accountable to a writing group or program to establish a habit of practice (76, 94).
Connection
(The Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning (AEPL), 2017) Wenger, Christy; Martorana, Christina; Hoermann-Elliott, Jacquelyn; Godbee, Beth; Wojcik, Adrianne; Musgrove, Laurence
At Texas Christian University, I teach a themed section of first-year composition called “Yoga-Zen Writing.” One of the first writing assignments my students receive is a “This I Believe” essay, for which I ask students to choose a belief or a personal mantra that guides their daily living or reflects their values in a way that is personally meaningful to them. My students are prepared for the assignment by listening to several “This I Believe” podcasts—available for streaming through Thisibelieve.org. As a class, we write in our journals and discuss out loud how these podcasts reflect the personal essay genre outlined in Bruce Ballenger’s The Curious Writer. The greatest challenge of this writing assignment is that students are expected to deliver one to two brief but well-detailed narrative experiences in approximately two pages, which always challenges them to winnow their words down to what is absolutely essential and memorable. Having taught this essay several times, I decided to write my own “This I Believe” essay in the fall of 2016. My intention was to refresh my memory of the process involved in writing a personal essay, and throughout the process I was reminded of how challenging personal essays can be.
El documental sin fin: filmar al desaparecido
(Valencian Institute of Cinematography, 2017) Benner, William R.
Since the early 2000s, the children of the disappeared have used cinema to question what it means to develop a culture of memory in spaces where terror was carried out as part of a State policy. This article focuses on the recent film productions of the post-dictatorship generation to analyze them from a perspective that combines notions of memory studies with the analysis of film techniques. The performative documentary Los rubios(2003) by Albertina Carri can be seen as the precursor of a narrative turn towards an institutional narrative on human rights, within which documentary film was a socio-political tool in post-dictatorship Argentina. Carri unbalances the objectivity of the documentary film genre and, most importantly, confronts the ethical implications of engaging in a politics of memory. This film opens the possibility that other post-dictatorship directors respond to the need to explore the immaterial consequences produced by disappearance. Responding to this call, the post-dictatorship filmmaker Jonathan Perel documents in El predio(2010) the transformation of an old concentration camp (the Escuela Superior de Mecánica de la Armada [ESMA]) into a space where memory is exerted in a performative way. Through his focus on the materiality of this space, Perel examines the inevitable limitations of a culture of memory and posits that the ESMA building remains a specter of terror. This paper analyzes the way in which both directors stimulate the imagination of the audience so that both the filmmakers and the public can reflect on the performative dimension of the documentary in the production and consumption of traumatic memories.
Blogging disappearance in Diario de una princesa montonera by Mariana Eva Perez
(Chasqui, 2018) Benner, William
In the foreword "On Memory and Memorials" in the book Accounting for Violence: Marketing Memory in Latin America, Luisa Valenzuela reminds us of a central question within memory studies: How do we keep remembrance alive without losing respect? (ix).1 The marketdriven present is at risk of creating and maintaining a self-negating practice, where the representation of tragic events are turned into an irreverent spectacle. Valenzuela states that even the words used to describe the traumatic past can be diluted by the market's substitutive nature. The word desaparecidos can allow us to expand on Valenzuela's question, as it is an example of the dangers of misrepresenting trauma for legal, political, or financial gains. The term desaparecidos was first used to hide the military regime's gross crimes against the Argentine people. It was only later that the boom of memory (1995-2003) made the word desaparecidos a common descriptor that refers to the victims of genocide in Argentina.2 The goal of human rights groups like Madres de Plaza de Mayo and Hijos por la Identidad y la Justicia contra el Olvido y el Silencio has always been to restore the identities of the disappeared, to recover the identities of the children of the disappeared, and to demand justice from those responsible for state terror. However, recent studies such as Gabriel Gatti's ldentidades desaparecidos, Ana Ros's The Post-Dictatorship Generation in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, Cecilia Sosa's Queering Acts of Mourning in the Aftermath of Argentina's Dictatorship, and Nancy Gates Madsen's Trauma, Taboo, and TruthTelling have signaled a shift within the memory politics of Argentine human rights groups, identifying a complacent attitude that has led to a loss of respect for the complexities involved in remembering the disappeared.
Collaborative tactics in a globally focused cocurricular writing program
(Association of Teachers of Advanced Composition, 2019) Hoermann-Elliott, Jackie; Robbins, Sarah Ruffing; James, Whitney Lew; Reed, Meagan Gacke
This program profile describes a globally focused cocurricular writing program led by faculty, staff, and graduate students from academic affairs and student affairs. Revisiting the program’s first two years, the authors (three graduate students and a faculty member) assert that writing-oriented learning activities within Texas Christian University’s (TCU) GlobalEX program were productively positioned to enable students to engage with other cultures and hone skills for becoming intercultural navigators. Drawing on a similar approach from Fernando Sánchez and Daniel Kenzie to apply Michel de Certeau’s ideas about tactics in cultural work, our program profile identifies important features shaped by this program’s cocurricular context that can be productively drawn upon both in non-course contexts and in curricular spaces. These include writing reflectively within flexible structures arranged to support learning through progressive stages; capitalizing on multimodal composing genres conducive to collaboration; and situating writing in public contexts without the individual pressure of grades.
AP? CLEP? Dual credit? Advice from a professor
(Tanglewood Moms, 2019) Hoermann-Elliott, Jackie
In Texas, some school districts are now offering to pay AP, CLEP, or dual credit fees in order to push students to complete associate degrees before finishing high school. Yes, the rush to educate students out of school is growing, and the pressure falls most heavily on parents to make decisions before their children know if or where they will attend college.
Representação da guerrilheira na literatura brasileira contemporânea: um território de disputas, repetições e apagamentos
(Revista Olho d'água, 2020) Rodriguez Mooney, Angela
Propomos por meio deste artigo investigar como a personagem guerrilheira é construída na literatura contemporânea brasileira. Consciente da amplitude dessa proposta, limitamo-nos à análise de algumas memórias e romances que recebem destaque nas discussões e estudos sobre a memória dos tempos ditatoriais no Brasil. São eles: As meninas (1973), O que é isso, companheiro? (1979), O crepúsculo do macho (1980), A chave de casa (2007), Soledad no Recife (2009), Azul-Corvo (2010) e K-relato de uma busca (2011). Nesse percurso, interessa-nos identificar sob quais signos essas mulheres duplamente transgressoras – que insurgiram não somente contra os aparatos violentos da repressão, mas também imprimiram em suas vidas uma ruptura radical em relação aos valores patriarcais que as obrigavam a permanecer no âmbito doméstico – são inscritas na memória cultural brasileira.
Camping in the disciplines: Assessing the effect of writing camps on graduate student writers
(University Press of Colorado, 2020) Busl, Gretchen; Donnelly, Kara Lee; Capdevielle, Matthew
In the past ten years, an increasing number of universities have begun organizing writing “camps,” or full-week immersion experiences, in an effort to address the increased need to support graduate student writing. Outside of anecdotes and testimonials, we have previously had very little data about these camps’ success. This study, conducted over the course of three such camps, attempts to address this lack of data by measuring graduate student writing confidence levels and self-regulation efforts both before and after attendance. An analysis of our preliminary results suggests that writing camps that include process-oriented programming result in small but meaningful improvements in attitudes and behaviors that positively affect graduate student writing.
Fictions of circulation and the question of world literature
(Southern Illinois University, 2020) Busl, Gretchen
The question "what is world literature?" is not a new one, but it is one that has seen considerable debate over the last twenty years. The scholarly discourse around this question has increased in urgency, arguably a result of the increased rhetoric surrounding the many competing notions of globalization. While traditional notions of "world literature" as a canonical body of texts have certainly fallen by the wayside, the answer to this question remains a matter of much dispute. Is world literature a discipline? Is it a methodology? Is it a mode of writing? This special issue makes no claims to provide another new definitive answer to this question; instead, it aims only to suggest ways in which we might complicate the question itself.
Flannery O’Connor, Richard M. Weaver, and midcentury conservative critiques of social science discourse
(Center for the Study of Christian Values in Literature: Brigham Young University, 2020) Fehler, Brian
In her fiction and correspondence, Flannery O'Connor demonstrates particular disdain for secular social scientists, including such supposedly well-meaning people as Rayber in The Violent Bear It Away and Sheppard in "The Lame Shall Enter First." O'Connor, who majored in social sciences while in college, wrote to her longtime correspondent Betty Hester years later, "In college I read works of socialscience, so-called. The only thing that kept me from being a social-scientist was the grace of God and the fact that I couldn't remember reading the stuff but a few days after reading it" ( Collected Works 905). It may be unclear whether the "so-called" in O'Connor's letter refers to the social sciences in general or to the works she had been assigned. In either case, O'Connor certainly seems to have held the work of social scientists in contempt. But why should that be the case? The Catholic Church certainly has a long history of advocating for the improvement of conditions in this world, while still preparing for the next. O'Connor, who trains her "rage of vision" on the Church as well as on secular society, reports, for example, the mixed results of a Jesuit's social advocacy in "The Displaced Person," but undoubtedly she reserves her sharpest criticism for those socially conscious individuals outside the Church.
‘Sex variants’ were everywhere
(The Gay & Lesbian Review/Worldwide, 2020) Fehler, Brian
The Supreme Court's recent decision in Bostock v. Clayton County outlawed employment discrimination based on sexual orientation for all Americans. Yet amid the justifiable jubilation surrounding that decision, an important scientific history lesson for our community has gone overlooked. In an amicus brief filed with the Court in the case, a group of gay and lesbian historians cited a scientific work that's been mostly forgotten in the eight decades since it was published. Even more thoroughly forgotten, and unmentioned in the historians' brief, were the contributions to that study by a lesbian named Jan Gay whose work and passion made the whole project possible.
Deslocamento e reconfiguração de espaço no cinema brasileiro: o caso de Linha de passe e Que horas ela volta?
(American Portuguese Studies Association, 2020-05-28) Rodriguez Mooney, Angela
In the present article, I examine Daniela Thomas and Walter Salles's Linha de passe (2008) and Anna Muylaert's Que horas ela volta? (2015). I argue that these films create new representational possibilities for subjects within contemporary Brazilian culture by breaking with the dominant model of the favela as a predominantly masculine space that is essentially "out of control." This renegotiation brings with it a valorization of the subjectivity of women who work in the city. I argue that this valorization takes place in both films through the physical displacement of those who traditionally do not enjoy subject status and yet dare to enter territories previously denied to them.
Aproximação à transexualidade na literatura contemporânea brasileira: o caso de Deixei ele lá e vim (2006), de Elvira Vigna
(Latin American Literary Review Press, 2020-06-16) Rodriguez Mooney, Angela
Este artigo analisa o trânsito da protagonista transexual Shirley Marlone no romance Deixei ele lá e vim (2006), de Elvira Vigna, por diversos espaços sociais, simbólicos e geográficos da cidade. De modo específico investigamos como essa representação permite ao leitor mapear relações de espacialidade e invisibilidade de pessoas transexuais. Defendemos que essas topografias literárias desenhadas pela autora trazem à tona lacunas e distorções de discursos hegemônicos sobre aqueles que transgridem as fronteiras do gênero e da sexualidade. Ao fazê-lo, a autora desestabiliza categorias essencializadas sobre os corpos e sujeitos, criando novos territórios simbólicos onde mulher transexual e suas experiências são visibilizadas e valorizadas.

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