Rhetoric and Composition As Intellectual Work

by Olson, Gary A.

• ISBN13: 9780809324330
• ISBN10: 0809324334
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-03-25
• Publisher: Southern Illinois Univ Pr

Summary

In response to those who insist that rhetoric and composition should remain only a service discipline, editor Gary A. Olson'sRhetoric and Composition as Intellectual Workdemonstrates that italready isan intellectual discipline, that for at least a quarter of a century the field has developed an impressive tradition of intellectual work in a remarkable assortment of subject areas.Rhetoric and Composition as Intellectual Worksuggests the diversity of intellectual projects that have and will continue to make rhetoric and composition more than a service to the university, more than a field devoted solely to improving writing pedagogy, and more than a preliminary to literary studies. This collection of nineteen essays by some of the most distinguished scholars in the discipline illustrates that rhetoric and composition has much to contribute to the intellectual milieu of the contemporary university, as the field continues to push its disciplinary borders and discover new sites of investigation.

Author Biography

Gary A. Olson is a professor of English and the coordinator of the graduate program in rhetoric and composition at the University of South Florida. A past editor of JAC, his fifteen books include the edited volumes of Philosophy, Rhetoric, Literary Criticism and Interviews: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Rhetoric and Literacy with Irene Gale.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Acknowledgments	xvii
Part One. Disciplinary Concerns
Reclaiming Our Theoretical Heritage: A Big Fish Tale	3	(9)
Jasper Neel
Rhetoric and Composition as a Coherent Intellectual Discipline: A Meditation	12	(11)
C. Jan Swearingen
The Death of Composition as an Intellectual Discipline	23	(9)
Gary A. Olson
The Case for Writing Studies as a Major Discipline	32	(9)
Charles Bazerman
Part Two. Historical Inquiry
Writing Studies as a Mode of Inquiry	41	(14)
Susan Miller
Claiming the Archive for Rhetoric and Composition	55	(10)
Susan Wells
New Dispositions for Historical Studies in Rhetoric	65	(16)
Susan C. Jarratt
Part Three. Ideological Inquiry
Ideological Critique in Rhetoric and Composition	81	(10)
Gary A. Olson
Working Against the State: Composition's Intellectual Work for Change	91	(10)
Tom Fox
Coming to Terms: Theory, Writing, Politics	101	(14)
Lynn Worsham
Holdin It Down: Students' Right and the Struggle over Language Diversity	115	(16)
Keith Gilyard
Part Four. Philosophical Inquiry
From Segregated Schools to Dimpled Chads: Rhetorical Hermeneutics and the Suasive Work of Theory	131	(12)
Steven Mailloux
Paralogic Rhetoric: An Overview	143	(10)
Tho Ken
Writing and Truth: Philosophy's Role in Rhetorical Practice	153	(11)
Barbara Couture
Seeing in Third Sophistic Ways	164	(13)
Victor J. Vitanza
Part Five. New Directions
Body Studies in Rhetoric and Composition	177	(11)
Sharon Crowley
Delivering the Message: Typography and the Materiality of Writing	188	(15)
John Trimbur
The Intellectual Work of Computers and Composition Studies	203	(18)
Cynthia L. Selfe
Richard J. Selfe
The Eternal Return of Magic-Rhetoric: Carnak Counts Ballots	221	(10)
William A. Covino
List of Contributors	231	(4)
Index	235