What Is A Text?

Dear All Good People, On Tuesday, we Skype with Rebecca Dingo; on Thursday, we pause for a mid-semester review and discussion of the Visually Annotated Bibliography (Step 2 of the Multi-Genre Project ). I may also work in a brief workshop on Harris's "moves" -- especially forwarding and countering -- and wrap up any loose ends you wish to have wrapped! In anticipation of our conversation with Dingo, I'm reminded that she actually provides us a methodology for textual work that reflects a different (but complementary) approach to Mao's comparative rhetorical approach. Dingo wants to give us a uniquely "transnational feminist rhetorical methodology" to identify how arguments circulate the way they do, how they shift as they cross geopolitical boundaries, and how they reflect ideas of production, labor, and global citizenship (Dingo 7). I suppose it makes sense to consider that all texts could be read as a set of conditions that are linked together

Dear All Good People, In advance of our discussion of Rebecca Dingo's "Networking Arguments" and Jim Porter's "Recovering Delivery," I include some potential discussion points here: It will be interesting to consider whether/which aspects of Porter's "digital delivery" paradigm are more or less illuminated by Dingo's "network" paradigm. In other words, in tracing or constructing our "networks" based on policies, summits, or events, how much does access matter. And in what ways should we be thinking about access?  We may also consider why Dingo chooses to "network" the outcomes of the 1995 Beijing Conference (a.k.a., the Fourth World Conference on Women) rather than to "map" it. Is Dingo's approach comparative (a la Mao)? Transnational? Something utterly different? As you navigate Dingo's chapter, take note of some of the "interactions and negotiations between localities and larg

Dear All Good ENG 4815 Folks: In preparation for our discussion of Wendy Hesford's cross-cultural "spectacle" next week, I'd like you to spend some time really browsing these projects: the  Girl Rising project website (you may know about this through the 2013 film, Girl Rising ) the UN GirlUp project website the  "Girl Effect" campaign website  and " The Clock Is Ticking " video Given that we're trying to think beyond dichotomies -- or, at least, to not have our theorizing be guided only by diabolical assumptions (e.g., good/bad, right/wrong, innocent/guilty, positive/negative, etc.) -- I'll ask that we be willing to consider these as text, message, and discourse. Please give yourselves at least 30 minutes to view, browse, and reflect on these prior to Tuesday's class, and you might consider the following critical challenges: What questions does each site or clip inspire us to ask? How does each site or clip narrate a devel

Dear All Good Folks, Where We Have Been Link to your parables here. Where We Are Going As we begin a new unit on Tuesday, I encourage you to review our progress since Day 1! From my vantage point, it seems we have our work cut out for us. LuMing Mao's challenge to " begin to read the 'Other' " takes on new significance for us in the next unit. We will start by considering Scott and Dingo's dilemma of "megarhetorics," before considering that concept at work in some cases related to global development, including Stephanie Black's film Life and Debt , the Girl Rising movement, and more. We'll pay special attention to how our theories of network and delivery do (or do not), or can (or cannot) translate when moving across cultural interspaces. Life and Debt cover, c. 2001, licensed under fair use, Wikipedia. On Tuesday, we'll watch the first part of Stephanie Black's film, Life and Debt , and discuss how our readings thus far