California State
University,
Northridge
Course Description
The catalog description for English 650 explains that the course
treats “major rhetorical theories and their relationship to literary
criticism, linguistics, and language philosophy; competing
Spring 2011
paradigms of the rhetoric of written composition; and implications
of rhetorical theories for students and teachers of literature and
English 650:
composition.” This particular section of English 650 will focus on
Twentieth
the collisions and intersections between composition studies and
Century Rhetoric
critical theory.
How has the field of composition studies responded to /
Instructor
incorporated / impelled / ignored recent developments in critical
Dr. Ian Barnard
theory? To answer this question, we’ll engage with critical
<http://www.csun.
composition theory and poststructuralist theory, as well as /
edu/~ib5991>
including work in disability studies, queer theory, feminism, and
postcolonial theory, and Trinh T. Minh-ha’s revolutionary
Office Hours in
documentary film, Reassemblage. We’ll examine the productive
ST 834: MW
and reactionary intersections and collisions between “composition”
11:30-12:30, and
and “theory.” We’ll also look at ways in which the teaching of
by appointment
writing seems hopelessly out of step with contemporary theory and
imagine ways of developing a postmodern composition pedagogy.
Email Office
Course requirements include critical reading / viewing,
Hours:
vigorous participation in class discussions, Moodle posts,
ian.barnard@csun.
facilitation of discussions, individual or collaborative final
edu
projects, and project workshops. No tests or exams. Few lectures-seminar meetings will be discussion-based. This course may be
counted toward the Literature and Rhet./Comp. options in the English M.A. program.
Students who are new to critical theory should read Postmodernism: A Very Short
Introduction and Poststructuralism: A Very Short Introduction before the first class
meeting.
Student Learning Outcomes:
Seminar participants will
 understand some of the conflicts and convergences between critical theory and
composition studies
 engage with these conflicts and convergences by extrapolating their significance,
developing applications of one field to the other, and developing theories and
models for teaching writing
 enhance critical and creative reading, writing, teaching, and presentation skills
through class discussions, Moodle posts, facilitation of class discussion,
presentations, reading assigned and other texts, and developing individual and/or
collaborative research projects
Required Texts:
1. Alexander, Jonathan. Literacy, Sexuality, Pedagogy: Theory and Practice for
Composition Studies. *
2
2. Arroyo, Sarah J. “W/holes: Rethinking Writing Spaces, Moving Toward a PostCritical Composition.” &
3. Barnard, Ian. “Anti-Ethnography?” &
4. Bartholomae, David. “Writing with Teachers: A Conversation with Peter Elbow.”
&
5. Baudrillard, Jean. “Simulacra and Simulations—I. The Precession of Simulacra.”
&
6. Course Reader. (Available from ASAP.)
7. Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. On the Line. *
8. Faigley, Lester. Fragments of Rationality: Postmodernity and the Subject of
Composition. * #
9. Lethem, Jonathan. “The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism.” &
10. Lewiecki-Wilson, Cynthia, and Brenda Jo Brueggemann, eds. Disability and the
Teaching of Writing. *
11. Oliver, Kelly, ed. French Feminism Reader. * #
12. Olson, Gary. “The Death of Composition as an Intellectual Discipline.” &
13. Schilb, John. Between the Lines: Relating Composition Theory and Literary
Theory. * #
14. Trinh T. Minh-ha. Interview by Constance Penley and Andrew Ross and Sketch
of Reassemblage Sound Track. &
15. Trinh T. Minh-ha. Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism.
*#
16. Vitanza, Victor. "Three Countertheses: A Critical In(ter)vention into
Composition Theories and Pedagogies." &
17. Worsham, Lynn. “Writing Against Writing: The Predicament of Ecriture
Féminine in Composition Studies.” &
Recommended Texts:
1. Belsey, Catherine. Poststructuralism: A Very Short Introduction. *
2. Butler, Christopher. Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction. *
* = available at Matador Bookstore
& = available on Moodle or in Course Reader
# = on reserve in the Oviatt Library
Films:
1. The King’s Speech
2. A Question of Silence
3. Reassemblage
Grade Distribution:
1. Participation:
2. Discussion Facilitation:
3. Final Research Project:
4. Moodle Posts:
10%
20%
40%
30%
3
Participation:
I expect you to attend all seminar meetings, read/view all assigned texts carefully and
critically, and participate thoughtfully in all seminar discussions. Participation grade
includes your posting of your final project draft on Moodle, active participation in peer
workshops on the final project, and presentation of the final project. You may miss two
seminar meetings without penalty.
Discussion Facilitation (feel free to meet with me beforehand to discuss your
facilitation):
 individually or with a partner, lead a class discussion on a chapter of your choice
from Disability and the Teaching of Writing
 20-30 minutes; I will stop you after 30 minutes
 must be interactive (e.g., could include writing activities, discussion, role-playing,
etc.)
 don’t just summarize the reading--class members will read your text ahead of time
Final Research Project:
Details to follow
Moodle Posts:
You may use the “Miscellaneous” discussion heading any time during the semester to
discuss issues related to the course, pose questions, refer class members to other
resources, reflect on readings and class discussions, etc.
Position Papers
 may be informal, but should be thought-out and revised
 don’t have to be authoritative; may reflect your ambiguities, ask questions, or
identify problems you have with the texts
 may be formally experimental, in keeping with course themes/texts
 should not summarize the readings
 should be 1-2 pages each
 may be incorporated into your final project
Responses to Colleagues’ Position Papers/Responses
 should be thoughtful and substantial
 should each be at least a paragraph long
 may be formally experimental, in keeping with courses themes/texts
 may be incorporated into your final project
 don’t respond to the same colleagues as everyone else
4
Tentative Schedule
1/24/11
 Introduction to the course
 Reading and discussion of excerpt
from the Preface to Judith Butler’s
Gender Trouble, 10th Anniversary
Edition
Assignments for next week:
 Read Faigley
 Moodle Post #1: Position Paper on
Faigley due by noon on 1/30;
Respond to at least two colleagues’
Position Papers / Responses by
noon on 2/1
1/31/11
 Discuss Faigley
Assignments for next week:
 Read Schilb
2/7/11
 Discuss Schilb
 Discuss Moodle posts
Assignments for next week:
 Read Trinh, Woman, Native, Other
 Moodle Post #2: Position Paper on
Woman, Native, Other due by noon
on 2/13; Respond to at least two
colleagues’ Position Papers /
Responses by noon on 2/14
2/14/11
 Discuss Trinh
 Assign readings for discussion
facilitation
Assignments for next week:
 Read Barnard
 Read Trinh interview and sketch of
Reassemblage soundtrack
2/21/11
 Watch and discuss Reassemblage
(40 minutes)
 Discuss readings
 Review requirements for discussion
facilitation
Assignments for next week:
 Read Alexander
 Moodle Post #3: Position Paper on
Alexander due by noon on 2/27;
Respond to at least two colleagues’
Position Papers / Responses by
noon on 3/1
2/28/11
 Discuss Alexander
 Meet with discussion co-facilitators
Assignments for next week:
 Read Deleuze and Guattari
3/7/11
 Discuss Deleuze and Guattari
 Special guest: Syuzanna Babayeva
 Mid-semester evaluation of course
Assignments for next week:
 Read articles by Arroyo,
Bartholomae, Baudrillard, Olson,
Vitanza
5
3/14/11
 Discuss readings
Assignments for next week:
 Read assigned selections from
Disability and the Teaching of
Writing
 Prepare discussion facilitation
 Bring composition textbooks /
assignments
3/21/11
 Student-led discussions of readings
from Disability and the Teaching of
Writing
 Discuss textbooks and assignments
Assignments for next week:
 Read assigned selections from
Disability and the Teaching of
Writing
 Prepare discussion facilitation
3/28/11
 Student-led discussions of readings
from Disability and the Teaching of
Writing
 Discuss final research project
Assignments for 4/11/11:
 Watch The King’s Speech
 Read Preface, Chapter 1, and
Chapter 5 from French Feminism
Reader
 Moodle Post #4: Position Paper on
The King’s Speech due by noon on
4/9; Respond to at least two
colleagues’ Position Papers /
Responses by noon on 4/10
 Work on final research project
SPRING BREAK
4/11/11
 Discuss The King’s Speech
 Discuss readings from French
Feminism Reader
 Work on final research project
Assignments for next week:
 Read Chapters 6-8 from French
Feminism Reader
 Moodle Post #5: Position Paper on
Chapter 6 or Chapter 7 or Chapter 8
of French Feminism Reader due by
noon on 4/17; Respond to at least
two colleagues’ Position Papers /
Responses by noon on 4/19
 Work on final research project
4/18/11
 Discuss readings from French
Feminism Reader
 Work on final research project
Assignments for next week:
 Read article by Worsham
 Work on final research project
6
4/25/11
 Watch and discuss A Question of
Silence
 Discuss Worsham article
 Work on final research project
Assignments for next week:
 Read article by Lethem
 Post a draft or link to a draft of your
final research project on Moodle by
noon on 4/30
 Read your group members’ final
research project drafts
5/2/11
Assignments for next week:
 Discuss Lethem article
 Work on final research project
 Workshops on final research project
 Post your final research project on
Moodle by 3 p.m. on 5/9/11
5/9/11
 Presentations on final research
project
 Wrap-up
 Party?
7
Some Additional Resources:
Books
Anzaldúa, Gloria E. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza.
Bergmann, Linda S., and Edith M. Baker, eds. Composition and Literature: The End(s)
of Education.
Berlin, James A., and Michael J. Vivion, eds. Cultural Studies in the English Classroom.
Berlin, James A. Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cultures: Refiguring College English Studies.
Blitz, Michael, and C. Mark Hurlbert. Letters for the Living: Teaching Writing in a
Violent Age.
Brueggemann, Brenda Jo. Lend Me Your Ear: Rhetorical Constructions of Deafness.
Butler, Judith. Precarious Life: The Power of Mourning and Violence.
Canagarajah, A. Suresh. Resisting Linguistic Imperialism in English Teaching.
Cha, Theresa Hak Kyung. Dictee.
Clifford, John, and John Schilb, eds. Writing Theory and Critical Theory.
Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia.
---. A Thousand Plateaus.
Fitts, Karen, and Alan W. France, eds. Left Margins: Cultural Studies and Composition
Pedagogy.
Foucault, Michel. The Archeology of Knowledge.
---. The Order of Things.
Gilyard, Keith. Race, Rhetoric, and Composition.
Goleman, Judith. Working Theory: Critical Composition Studies for Students and
Teachers.
Greenbaum, Andrea, ed. Insurrections: Approaches to Resistance in Composition
Studies.
Harkin, Patricia, and John Schilb, eds. Contending with Words: Composition and
Rhetoric in a Postmodern Age.
Horner, Bruce. Terms of Work for Composition: A Materialist Critique.
Hurlbert, Claude Mark, and Michael Blitz, eds. Composition and Resistance.
Jarratt, Susan, and Lynn Worsham, eds. Feminism and Composition: In Other Words.
Joeres, Ruth-Ellen Boetcher, and Elizabeth Mittman, eds. The Politics of the Essay:
Feminist Perspectives.
Kent, Thomas, ed. Post-Process Theory: Beyond the Writing-Process Paradigm.
Lunsford, Andrea E., and Lahoucine Ouzgane, eds. Crossing Borderlands: Composition
and Postcolonial Studies.
Malinowitz, Harriet. Textual Orientations: Lesbian and Gay Students and the Making of
Discourse Communities.
Miller, Susan. Rescuing the Subject: A Critical Introduction to Rhetoric and the Writer.
Neel, Jasper. Plato, Derrida, and Writing.
Ohmann, Richard. English in America.
Olson, Gary, ed. Composition Theory for the Postmodern Classroom.
Sanchez, Raul. The Function of Theory in Composition Studies.
Trinh T. Minh-ha. When the Moon Waxes Red: Representation, Gender, and Cultural
Politics.
Weathers, Winston. Alternate Style.
8
Weisser, Christian R., and Sidney I. Dobrin, eds. Ecocomposition: Theoretical and
Pedagogical Approaches.
Wittig, Monique. The Lesbian Body.
Special Issues of Journals
jac 24.1 (2004). “Special Cluster: Queer Theory.”
pre/text: A Journal of Rhetorical Theory 13.3/4 (1992). Special Queer issue.
Articles
Davis, D. Diane. “Finitude’s Clamor: Or, Notes Toward a Communitarian Literacy.”
CCC 53.1 (2001): 119-45.
Fort, Keith. “Form, Authority, and the Critical Essay.” Contemporary Rhetoric. Ed. W.
Ross Winterowd. New York: Harcourt, 1975. 171-83.
Griffin, Susan. “Red Shoes.” The Politics of the Essay: Feminist Perspectives. Ed.
Ruth-Ellen Boetcher Joeres and Elizabeth Mittman. Bloomington: Indiana UP,
1993. 1-11.
Hart, Ellen Louise. "Literacy and the Lesbian/Gay Learner." The Lesbian in Front of the
Classroom: Writings by Lesbian Teachers. Ed. Sarah-Hope Parmeter and Irene
Reti. Santa Cruz, CA: HerBooks, 1988. 30-43.
Kleege, Georgina. “Letters to Helen.” Points of Contact: Disability, Art, and Culture.
Ed. Susan Crutchfield and Marcy Epstein. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 2000.
147-68.
Kristeva, Julia. “Woman Can Never Be Defined.” 1974. New French Feminisms. Ed.
Elaine Marks and Isabelle de Courtivron. New York: Schocken, 1981. 137-41.
Lu, Min-Zhan. “Professing Multiculturalism: The Politics of Style in the Contact Zone.”
CCC 45.4 (1994): 442-58.
Olson, Gary. “Toward a Post-Process Composition: Abandoning the Rhetoric of
Assertion.” Post-Process Theory: Beyond the Writing Process Paradigm. Ed.
Thomas Kent. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1999. 7-15.
Trinh T. Minh-ha. "Introduction" and "Difference: `A Special Third World Women
Issue.'" Discourse 8 (Fall-Winter 1986-87): 3-37.