CCCC Feminist Workshop 2010: Feminist Intersectionality: Confronting Identity(ies), Censorship, and Action
Taking up this year’s conference theme—to rethink, revisit, revise, and renew—this workshop reinvigorates feminist discourse through the lens of intersectionality. Feminist scholars and activists such as Kimberlé Crenshaw, bell hooks, Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, and Gloria Anzaldua have challenged the feminist movement to confront its own silencing when it comes to power as it relates to multiple, interlocking systems of oppression. Feminists in rhetoric and composition studies must again interrogate how the forces of racism, classism, homophobia, sexism, and ablism continue to silence voices. What have been the effects? How can we resist not only the coerced silencing of feminist voices, but also prevent the censorship of ideas within feminist discourse? We offer the chance for workshop participants to bring together their multiple perspectives so we can work to translate analysis and pedagogy into action.Although there has long been consistent scholarship calling out these multiple oppressions, we suggest that there has simultaneously been a great deal of censorship when trying to engage in such a critique.
This workshop provides an open space for provocative multimedia, performative, multi-genre, and roundtable discussion prompts, while also creating the opportunity for “ACTION!” groups to work out strategies and methods for working in a more productive and feminist way in the future. We will talk about the ways in which feminism, especially as it has been theorized within composition studies, might engage in conversations of "danger talk," a term used by Harris, Hassinger, Debbink, and Martin at the 2009 Feminist Workshop. "Danger talk," as developed by Harris et al., highlights moments within an activist discourse where those wanting to be considered members/insiders are censored by the same arguments and tropes that seek to support and empower that same member. Such "danger talk" can not only stymie a movement, but can erase (potentially powerful and productive) voices of dissent. In borrowing this term, we also acknowledge the danger in opening up sapce within the Feminist workshop itself for conversations that can be uncomfortable and may otherwise be discouraged--discourses that may contain or open space for a critique of basic feminist ideologies. Even though scholars have called for such discourse before (see for example, Krista Ratcliffe's "rhetorical listening" answer to Jacqueline Jones Royster's call for better rhetorical tactics for turning difference into productive dialogue), we argue that silencing and elisions continue, and we also suggest that feminists work more to translate analysis and pedagogy into action.
First, participants will discuss the past while looking to the future, in a discussion led by Jacqueline Jones Royster looking back over her last 30 years in rhetoric, composition, and literacy. She asks: What do the ellipses look like? What are the major opportunities and challenges before us? This discussion will set the tone for the two roundtable-style small group discussions. The four leaders in each of the two groups will spend 6-9 minutes prompting participants to discuss themes and ideas that are often elided or marginalized, offering the chance to think critically about feminist theory and praxis (see below for group leaders and themes). These roundtable sessions will be followed by a group brainstorm session, led by Trish Roberts-Miller, oriented toward pedagogy: How do we encounter student resistance? We will discuss typical situations and anecdotes and then, in smaller groups, work though methods and strategies.
After lunch, participants will again come together as a big group for an interactive speaker panel (6-9 minutes apiece) that will set the stage for the action-oriented breakout groups to follow. Tammie Kennedy will perform a multi-genre performative reading that examines the tensions between taking and teaching feminist rhetoric courses and the realities of academic writing that privileges "masculine" ways of knowing and communicating. Lisa Justine Hernandez offers an overview of ongoing experiences with a delegation of feminists seeking to build a productive connection between Guatemalans and United States feminists, using the service-learning model to raise awareness of the issues intersecting with femicide, both at the grassroots and political levels. And Jennifer Fallas investigates the immediacy of activism opportunities, using the bisexual lens to challenge monosexual (hetero or homo) readings and discourses in the postmodern writing classroom. Participants will spend the rest of the afternoon working in action groups to discuss strategies for the future (see descriptions below). We will wrap up with a final large group discussion and time for reflection.
SCHEDULE
9:00-9:30: Introductions and Overview
9:30-10:15 Keynote Address and Discussion
Jacqueline Jones Royster: “We Are. . .Women. . .”
Revisiting the last 30 years in rhetoric, composition, and literacy: What do the ellipses look like? What are the major opportunities and challenges before us? A group discussion will follow this "keynote" address.
10:15-11:45: Concurrent Roundtables and Small Group Discussion -- Feminist Theory and Praxis
Theory Roundtable:
Nancy Mack: “Questions I Have Been Asked”
A poetic look at the questions specific to women professionals: How do we turn sexist questions and assumptions into critical awareness, thereby creating a string of practical and ethical pearls?
Melissa Nicolas: “Why I Left Feminism and Why I Came Back: Examining Rhetorical Space within Feminism”
Thinking about the paradoxes that accompany work as an academic feminist: How does feminism create spaces to do meaningful research and teaching while also fueling the sense that one is becoming undone or silenced?
Lonie McMichael: “Why Feminists Should Support Fat Acceptance: A Rhetorical View”
An overview of the Fat Acceptance Movement and prejudice in the name of "health": How can feminists resist the "obesity=bad" trope that circulates in our current culture and support a move toward the equal treatment of all people regardless of body size?
Stephanie Morgan: “What We Say When We Don’t Talk About Women’s Rhetoric and Online Dating”
Unpacking the "unsexiness" of online dating rhetorical products and the rhetors who produce them: What are the continued consequences of the aristotelian mind-body split lingering in our research ethos, and how can feminist composition projects better engage with writing beyond the classroom?
Praxis Roundtable:
Patti Hanlon-Baker: “Where are all the boys? Exploring Gender Issues with First Year College Students”
Themed writing classes and student engagement with gender studies: How do we help students see the ways that gender roles restrict options for all genders, and how might a lack of participation in negotiating these issues further marginalize them?
Jason Barrett-Fox: “Feminist Rhetoric of Old Hollywood and the Contemporary Writing Classroom”
An analysis of Anita Loos's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and pedagogical applications for teaching writing: How is feminism coded in popular mediums in the early 20th century and what lessons for the classroom can we take away from such a historical study?
Elana Hornblass Dushey: “When Words are at Risk: The Death of Feminine Language and the Feminine in The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake”
Examining constructions and destructions of feminine language using two dystopic Margaret Atwood novels as catalysts for discussion: Where can a non-essentialized feminine voice find itself at within the commercial, globalized, and increasingly technological 21st century, and is there a space for the complex cultural web of diverse female voices?
Ruth Osorio: "Student-run Feminist Groups--Connecting Theory to the Streets"
A case study and discussion of student-run groups and their role as mediator between feminist theory in the classroom and grassroots activism: What are the challenges of student-run feminist groups, why has their role been neglected in larger conversations about feminist pedagogy, and what can they teach us?
11:45-12:30: Brainstorm Session and Discussion
Trish Roberts-Miller: "Student resistance to Feminist Theory and Pedagogy"
How do we encounter student resistance? Discuss typical situations and anecdotes and then in smaller groups work though methods and strategies.
12:30-1:30: Lunch
1:30-2:30: Multigenre/Multimedia Performative Provocations and Discussion
Tammie Kennedy: “Searching for Transformation After the Feminist Course Ends”
A multi-genre performative reading that examines the tensions between and inspiration drawn from taking and teaching feminist rhetoric courses and the realities of academic writing that privileges "masculine" ways of knowing and communicating: How can embodied writing open up spaces to better accommodate more multidimensional experiences, epistemologies, and relationships?
Lisa Justine Hernandez: “Engaging Writing and Women’s Studies Students in Coalition Work to End Violence Against the Women of Guatemala”
An overview of ongoing experiences with a delegation of feminists seeking to build a productive connection between Guatemalans and United States feminists, using the service-learning model to raise awareness of the issues intersecting with femicide, both at the grassroots and political levels. What have the participants learned so far? What are the potential outcomes?
Jennifer Fallas: “I Kissed a Girl [and a Boy] and I Liked It: Intersectionalities of Bisexual Activism and Feminism in Pop-Culture Writing Classrooms”
Investigating the immediacy of activism opportunities, using the bisexual lens to challenge monosexual (hetero or homo) readings and discourses in the postmodern writing classroom. What might analysis of a year of self-reflextive anecdotal evidence (video "diary" entries, tweets, and blogs) and traditional research reveal about the changing face(s) of rhetoricians as well as the college classroom?
2:30-3:30: ACTION! Working Groups: Small Group Brainstorming
Lessons from the Past and Overlaps Between Feminist Theory and Political Activism
The Future of the Feminist Academy—A Feminist Workshop Mission Statement
Fusing Town with Gown for Service Learning and Community Engagement
Coping with Institutionalized Sexism in terms of Publishing, Promotion, and FTE Concerns
3:30-4:30: Share Ideas Generated During Working Groups and Wrap-up with Feedback/Reflection and Planning for 2011