The New Work of Composing

Edited by Debra Journet, Cheryl E. Ball, & Ryan Trauman

Book overview. This edited collection explores theoretical and practical questions about multimodal, digital production through lenses of rhetoric/composition, digital writing studies, English studies, and the humanities.
- Computers and Composition Digital Press
- Utah State University Press
Not Your Mother's Argument

Morgan Gresham and Roxanne Kirkwood Aftanas

Abstract. This chapter explores how identity and expectations change audience responses to our work as scholars. Using our own compositions as a point of departure, we argue that authors cannot use the master's tools of traditional argument to look at the new work of composition scholarship. As our discipline transitions to new compositions, we see the increasing expectation of a "second shift" of work that requires remediation into traditional argument if our work is to be viable. We push against this expectation, using our digital compositions to create feminist identities and scholarship.

APA Citation: Gresham, Morgan, & Aftanas, Roxanne Kirkwood. (2012). Not your mother's argument. In Debra Journet, Cheryl E. Ball, & Ryan Trauman (Eds.), The new work of composing. Computers and Composition Digital Press/Utah State University Press. http://ccdigitalpress.org/nwc/chapters/gresham-aftanas/
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I always feel like there are/should be raised expectations for us. We are some of the most educated people in the world (departments and conferences full of people with PhDs) and the rhet/comp people specialize in communication and the fem rhet/comp people certainly should have knowledge of basic arguments in feminism. The fact that we are making these arguments to/with people trained in these areas highlights that we have not come as far as we think. Or perhaps we are doing a poor job of seeing ourselves for the growth we still need to do. Again, maybe this is a matter of following the advice we give our own students: spell out each argument that we are making.

“Renouncing motherhood still didn’t guarantee a baby-boomer woman a corner office, a designer bank account, or academic tenure, however. Not even half of the childless women met Goldin’s criteria of a career.” (Ann Crittenden, 2001, p. 281, emphasis in original)

Friday, June 10, 2011

Raising Expectations

The New Work of Composing

Edited by Debra Journet, Cheryl E. Ball, & Ryan Trauman

Not Your Mother's Argument

Morgan Gresham and Roxanne Kirkwood Aftanas

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