English Language and Literature Commons^™

Back Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

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Delivery, Facilitas, And Copia : Job Market Preparation And The Revival Of The Fifth Canon., Joseph Turner

Faculty Scholarship

This essay argues that English Studies departments should implement training programs in oral delivery strategies for graduate students seeking tenure track employment. A sample a 13-week training program, modeled on elements of classical rhetorical pedagogy, can help students develop and refine stills in oral delivery necessary for academic job interviews.

Transformations Of Free Movement: Syrian Refugee Rights Within Neoliberal Signal Territories, Jordan Hayes

The Social Practice of Human Rights: Charting the Frontiers of Research and Advocacy

Alongside representations of the fractious civil conflict in Syria, our media frequently depict victims of forced displacement using their smartphones. In October 2015, Time published images of refugees taking selfies after making the journey from the Turkish coast to Lesbos, Greece. These images show refugees using mobile devices to enjoy human rights like the freedoms of expression and movement. Absent is the state sanction implied by UN compacts such as the 1951 Refugee Convention.

This paper situates these representations, recent scholarship, and my own fieldwork with Syrian refugees sheltering in the Kurdish Region of Iraq within an analysis of human ...

Indigenous Rights In The Trump Era, Tereza M. Szeghi

The Social Practice of Human Rights: Charting the Frontiers of Research and Advocacy

This paper examines the ways in which the Dakota Access Pipeline and the related protests were divergently covered in mainstream versus alternative news sources and what this divergent coverage suggests about the current status of American Indian affairs and the role of American Indians in the U.S. cultural imaginary. Moreover, the paper will address the status of American Indian tribal sovereignty in the Trump era more broadly, with particular focus on American Indians' treaty-related rights to self-determination in the use of their lands.

The Politics Of The Personal : Storying Our Lives Against The Grain., Deborah Brandt, Ellen Cushman, Anne Ruggles Gere, Anne Herrington, Richard E. Miller, Victor Villanueva, Min-Zhan Lu, Gesa Kirsch

Min-Zhan Lu

This symposium presents a written dialogue of scholars expressing not only excitement but also frustration over the ways in which current work in composition and literacy studies has explored the politics of the personal.

An Essay On The Work Of Composition : Composing English Against The Order Of Fast Capitalism., Min-Zhan Lu

Min-Zhan Lu

This is an attempt to define what being a responsible and responsive user of English might mean in a world ordered by global capital, a world where all forms of intra- and international exchanges in all areas of life are increasingly under pressure to involve English. Turning to recent work in linguistics and education, I pose a set of alternative assumptions that might help us develop more responsible and responsive approaches to the relation between English and its users (both those labeled Native-Speaking, White or Middle Class, and those Othered by these labels), the language needs and purposes of individual ...

Words + Pictures: A Manifesto, Jean Braithwaite

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

In the second decade of the 21^st century, academic comics studies is well established as a serious intellectual subject, but for many non-specialists, including university administrators, a sense of frivolity still attaches to comics. This brief essay braids together personal history and intellectual analysis: 1) it compares the cultural position of comics today to the position of novels in the 19^th century; 2) it analyzes the complementary nature of the verbal and visual channels; 3) it argues that neither words nor pictures should be considered primary in a narratology of comics; and 4) that comics are eminently well ...

Joy Of Ugly Feelings: Korean “Bad Taste” Webtoons As A Case Study, Hyesu Park

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Cognitive narratology has contributed significantly to our understanding of reading fiction, namely, what happens when we read and why we read at all. According to scholars such as Lisa Zunshine, Alan Palmer, and George Butte, we have an evolved craving to read the minds of others, and reading fiction ultimately is a busy act of reading and misreading minds of characters in the storyworld. My paper questions this cognitivist belief by using Korean “bad taste” webtoons (online comics using violent verbal and visual for amusement) as a case study. I discuss ways in which the absence of readable minds and ...

Perineum: Erika Lopez, Debra A. Castillo

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Erika Lopez is the author of five lavishly illustrated, fictionalized memoirs as well as a postcard book and a performance piece, “Nothing Left but the Smell.” All of her books are road tales of sorts, texts that grapple with the inchoate and often illegible need to assert herself as bi: bi-racial, bi-sexual, bi-cultural, bi-coastal, but also more and different than merely bi (“I contain multitudes,” said Walt Whitman), disrespectful of boundaries, genders, and genres, and unwilling to settle down with one person or one story even when the constant movement and empting out exhausts her. Even worse, in some ways ...

An Unexpected Life Through Comics: An Interview With Ben Katchor, Frederick Luis Aldama

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

This interview conducted with Ben Katchor takes readers on a journey through his life, work, and different eras of comic strip and comic book creation. Katchor shares with Frederick Luis Aldama his origins as a word and drawing storyteller as well as his trials, tribulations, and successes throughout the latter 20th century.

Andrew J. Kunka. Autobiographical Comics. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017., Nicole Dib

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Andrew J. Kunka. Autobiographical Comics. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.

Mark Heimermann And Brittany Tullis, Eds. Picturing Childhood: Youth In Transnational Comics. Austin: U Of Texas P, 2017., Cristina R. Rivera

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Mark Heimermann and Brittany Tullis, eds. Picturing Childhood: Youth in Transnational Comics. Austin: U of Texas P, 2017.

Frederick Luis Aldama. Latino Comic Book Storytelling: An Odyssey By Interview. San Diego: ¡Hyperbole Books!, 2017., Jessica Rutherford

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Frederick Aldama. Latino Comic Book Storytelling: An Odyssey by Interview. San Diego: ¡Hyperbole Books!, 2017.

Mel Gibson. Remembered Reading: Memory, Comics And Post-War Constructions Of British Girlhood. Leuven: Leuven Up, 2015., Kristof Van Gansen

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Mel Gibson. Remembered Reading. Memory, Comics and Post-War Constructions of British Girlhood. Leuven: Leuven UP, 2015.

Frederick Luis Aldama And Christopher M. González, Eds. Graphic Borders: Latino Comic Books Past, Present, And Future. Austin: U Of Texas P, 2016., Noel R. Zavala

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Frederick Luis Aldama and Christopher M. González, eds. Graphic Borders: Latino Comic Books Past, Present, and Future. Austin: U of Texas P, 2016.

Living English Work., Min-Zhan Lu

Min-Zhan Lu

Keeping in mind the Chinese character-combination yuyan, with its multiple meanings of language, parts of language, the processes of language, and the products of those processes, the author depicts English as kept alive by many people and by many different ways of using it in a wide range of personal, social, and historical contexts. She proposes four lines of inquiry “against the grain” of English-only instruction—that living-English users weigh what English can do for them against what it has done to them; that they weigh what English can do against what it cannot do; that they understand English as ...

Andrew Johnson: The Uniting Or Dividing Factor Of Reconstruction, Nicole Perkins

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

This historiography began with an abundance of research done on the topic of Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction, annotating each source, noticing trends in interpretation, and organizing my thoughts. Through this historiography, the reader will be able to clearly see the drastically different interpretations of Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction during different time periods of American history.

Historiography Of The Reconstruction Era Kkk: Reconstructing Understandings Of Racism, Mary Mcloughlin

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

The writing process for this historiography spanned a large portion of the semester. I started by writing a topic proposal where I identified my goal for the project as examining the way the classification of the Ku Klux Klan has evolved. Next, I gathered an array of sources which I later narrowed down to the eight used in my historiography. Using these eight sources, I submitted an annotated bibliography to my professor. I used the feedback given on my annotated bibliography to craft an initial draft of my historiography. After consulting the CORE write place consultants and utilizing the feedback ...

A Woman’S Place Is In Politics: The Changing Interpretations Of The Women’S Suffrage Movement’S Involvement In Reconstruction, Sabrina Jemail

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

I wrote this historiography paper over the course of the Spring 2017 semester in my ASI 120 class. The assignment was to write a historiography paper about a topic of our choosing during the Reconstruction period in America. In addition to the analyzing historians' interpretations of our topics, we were also asked to choose the group of sources that we felt was most accurate and compelling. To prepare for the paper, I read Eric Foner’s A Short History of Reconstruction, which provided me with deeper background knowledge of the time period and guided me in the development of my ...

Irene Adler, Just Another Damsel, Sarah Litteral

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

As someone who identifies as a feminist, I was very excited to discover that my English class, which focused on the topic of Sherlock Holmes, had a whole entire section dedicated to the interactions of women within the series. Once we were able to choose what our final research paper would be on, I knew exactly what I wanted to talk about. My whole life I have love mystery novels, especially the Holmes series, however, I was always a little unsatisfied at the lack of prominent female characters within it. I felt that this paper would be the perfect format ...

The Neighborhood Of Mccook Field: Putting The Community And The Environment Back Together, Claudia Hampel, Rebecca Richardson

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

Our assignment was based on the concept of community and all it entails. Each student pair in our class was assigned a neighborhood in Dayton (ours being McCook Field) and given the task of identifying an asset of their respective neighborhood, along with demographic information, physical geography, economic characteristics, etc. We initially began our assignment by talking about how communities are defined and constructed, then we began doing research on our assigned neighborhood in order to find one asset. In our case, we chose to focus on the issue with volatile organic compounds in McCook Field and the steps being ...

Dayton, Ohio Education & Industries: Getting To The Source Of The Problem, Nina Santarpia

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

After researching the history of industries in Dayton, Ohio and examining the current economic characteristics, I wanted to know how Dayton was being proactive and planning to make changes. I interviewed a director from Ruskin Elementary and learned about how they are conditioning children to improve the future economy of Dayton and industries.

Selfishness: The Basis Of Conflict, Lilly M. Barnett

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

For this essay, we were prompted to discuss themes and characters of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and how those related to John Paul II's ideals of the common good. After careful consideration and research, I came to the understanding that characters Frankenstein were not particularly working toward the common good and therefore revolved my paper around that and supporting facts from Shelley. I also incorporate supporting details from Rebecca Solnit's Ice.

Branding In Today's Society: I Do Care, Kayla A. Flaute

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

For this assignment, I was required to critique a literary work by Kathleen Norris, a best selling poet and essayist. I chose her essay called "I Don't Care," which outlines that people should not care about what brands they buy. However, I believe there are several reasons for people to care about what brands they buy. That being said, I picked three of the most important reasons why people should care and used these reasons to critique Norris' essay.

The Common Good Frankenstein Textual Analysis And Argument Essay, Julia G. Bonfiglio

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

My writing process for this particular essay was fairly simple and straightforward. I began by reading the prompt and writing notes on my teacher's specific directions. I then went to the library, where I reviewed my notes and the directions. Next, I began to write a brief rough draft which I later printed and gave to my teacher for review. Finally, I took all of her suggestions for improvement into consideration and completed my essay.

Beren And Lúthien (2017) By J.R.R. Tolkien, Edited By Christopher Tolkien, Douglas Charles Kane

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review of Beren and Lúthien (2017) by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien, reviewed by Douglas Charles Kane

Working Rhetoric And Composition., Bruce Horner, Min-Zhan Lu

Min-Zhan Lu

Given the multiple meanings of rhetoric and composition, as well as the vexed history of institutional relationships between these two terms, it is important for scholars to trace how they are “worked”—that is, how they materially function—in a variety of specific circumstances.

Translingual Literacy, Language Difference, And Matters Of Agency., Min-Zhan Lu, Bruce Horner

Min-Zhan Lu

We argue that composition scholarship’s defenses of language differences in student writing reinforce dominant ideology’s spatial framework conceiving language difference as deviation from a norm of sameness. We argue instead for adopting a temporal-spatial framework defining difference as the norm of utterances, and defining languages, literacy practices, conventions, and contexts as always emergent, ongoing products of iterations, and thus manifestations of writer agency. Using the “White Shoes” essay from David Bartholomae’s “Inventing the University,” we show how such a framework addresses the writer’s agency iterating the “same,” and how it resolves concerns to meet students’ need ...

Composing In A Global-Local Context : Careers, Mobility, Skills., Min-Zhan Lu, Bruce Horner

Min-Zhan Lu

When composition students look to their teachers for vocational guidance, both groups should acknowledge that the contexts of such terms as career, mobility, and skills have radically changed. In particular, the economy now links the global with the local, and capitalism has shifted from the fordist model, dominant through much of the twentieth century, to a newer, “fast” model.

Introduction : Translingual Work., Min-Zhan Lu, Bruce Horner

Min-Zhan Lu

This issue both reflects and builds on the efforts prompted by the 2011 College English essay “Language Difference in Writing: Toward a Translingual Approach,” by Bruce Horner, Min-Zhan Lu, Jacqueline Jones Royster, and John Trimbur. Contributions to this symposium contextualize the emergence of a translingual approach, explore the tension and interconnections between a translingual approach and a variety of fields, and explore the viability of a translingual approach in light of existing academic structures.