Cultivating Counterstories in the WR Classroom: Concepts from Critical Race Theory
Thursdays, February 9 to March 2, 3:00-4:00, on Zoom.
This faculty seminar introduces participants to key tenets and concepts from critical race theory and decolonizing pedagogy, through selected readings, group dialogue, as well as assignment review and revision. The first session addresses forms of master narrative and counter narrative and cultivating space in the writing classroom. In the second session, we will explore counterstory as a critical teaching practice that addresses the legacy of colonialism and the importance of naming, remembering, and reclaiming. We will examine a photo-essay assignment that allows students to interrogate cultural memory and validate personal histories. The third session will focus on different kinds of praxis. The final session will examine types of counterstory and classroom community building and provide the opportunity to workshop an assignment from any WR syllabus.
Session 1--Counterstory: Origins, Methodologies, and Personal History in the Writing Classroom
- Richard Delgado, “Storytelling for Oppositionists and Others: A Plea for Narrative,” Michigan Law Review 87 (1989), pp. 2411-2441.
- Aja Y. Martinez, “A Plea for Critical Race Theory Counterstory: Stock Story vs. Counterstory Dialogues Concerning Alejandra’s ‘Fit’ in the Academy,” Performing Antiracist Pedagogy in Rhetoric, Writing, and Communication, Eds. Frankie Condon and Vershawn Ashanti Young, WAC Clearinghouse and University Press of Colorado, 2017, pp. 65-85.
- Miguel Zavala, “Decolonial Methodologies/Strategies in Education,” from “Decolonization and Higher Education,” Eds. Sharon Stein and Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti in the Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory, Springer Singapore, 2018, pp. 362-66.
- Annette Kuhn, “Photography and Cultural Memory: A Methodological Exploration,” Visual Studies, Vol. 22, No. 3 (December 2007): 283-292.
- Application to Practice: Photo-Essay Assignment (WR 152 Alternative Genre)
Session 2--Master Narrative, Counter Narratives, Master Spaces, Counter Spaces: Creating Cultural Hybridity in the WP Classroom
Session 3--DEI Committee Roundtable
- Marie McDonough, “From Cognitive Imperialism to Rhetorical Sovereignty”
- Courtney Pina Miller, “Class-ing the Writing Classroom”
- Abir Ward, “’Tone Down Your Ethnic Voice’: How my Literature Professor Brought Forth Awareness about Linguistic Injustice and Helped Shape my Language Teacher Identity”
Session 4--Counterstory in Your Practice
- Emily Esfahani Smith, “We Want to Travel and Party. Hold That Thought,” New York Times, 24 June 2021,
- Sharon Verner Chappell and Drew Chappell, “Building Social Inclusion Through Critical Arts-Based Pedagogies in University Classroom Communities,” International Journal of Inclusive Pedagogy, 20:3 (2015), pp. 292-308.
- Vijay Kanagala and Laura I. Rendón, “Birthing Internal Images: Employing the Cajita Project as a Contemplative Activity in a College Classroom,” New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 134, Summer 2013, pp. 41-51.
- Application to Practice: Bring an assignment that might be developed into an inclusive/antiracist writing project. You might adapt an assignment based on one of the examples presented in the seminar or develop another one.
