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Call for Papers:

For an edited collection tentatively entitled

*The What Next? Generation: Emerging (Re)Visions of Composition Studies*

Edited by Jonathan Alexander (University of Cincinnati) and
Jacqueline Rhodes (California State University, San Bernardino)

Kathleen Blake Yancey, in her Keynote Address for the upcoming CCCC, plans
to pose the question, “As we move into the 21st century, what do (and what
will) we mean by composing?” The question…begs yet another densely
inter-related question: “As we move into the 21st century, what do (and what
will) we mean by teaching composition?” As composition programs across the
country continue to change, develop, and assess curricula, methods, and even
the structure of administering composition and writing, it’s important to
ask what trends and values are emerging that will shape the future of
writing instruction in our colleges and universities.
Indeed, what we mean by composition, writing instruction, literacy—all are
in flux, and the next few decades promise to bring a number of changes due
to shifting economies and subsequent shifting in institutional priorities.
At the same time, composition specialists relatively new to the field are
bringing to bear on these changes their own ideas, their own responses, and
their own energies in thinking through the future of our field.

Often referring to themselves as the “Generation X” of composition studies—a
generation standing with one foot in the social-turn and the other somewhere
in the post-process movement—these compositionists attempt to juggle
innovative pedagogies and disparate theories, often in ways that challenge
recently-past pedagogies, theories, and assumptions about writing
instruction. Many innovations that a new generation brings to writing
instruction come from advanced work with social-epistemic theories and
interdisciplinary connections made with a host of other fields of inquiry,
such as disability studies, feminism and women’s studies, psychology, queer
theory, religious studies, and sociology. Additionally, new compositionists
continue to highlight the ongoing impact of digital and technological
literacies on how we communicate, both with text and visuals. And finally,
as newer teacher-scholars experiment with distance-learning platforms and
other structural changes to the “delivery” of writing instruction, we need
to assess how such venues will impact our field and its commitment to the
development—and definition—of literacy among students.

Given these shifts, fads, and trends, our question is simple: what next?
That is, if the emerging generation of composition specialists takes a step
back and views the field as a whole, what would they see? With their
immersion in the field of composition and rhetoric, and with their fresh
insights into pedagogical, theoretical, and institutional shifts, what do
these compositionists see as the “hot spots,” the major issues, the
immediate present as it refracts the future of our field?

We seek essays that address questions and that locate them in theoretically
informed and engaging discussions about the state—and future—of composition.
If you are interested in contributing, please contact the editors with an
initial query by March 1, 2004. Queries may be either in the form of an
abstract of no more than 200 words or a letter of intent with some
indication of what you would like to do in your contribution. Please submit
via email to jamma@... and jrhodes@.... Final submitted papers
will be approximately 20-25 pages in length, typed doubled-spaced, in MLA
format. We hope to review complete drafts by June 15, with revisions
expected by September 1.


Jonathan Alexander is Associate Professor of English and Comparative
Literature at the University of Cincinnati, where he also serves as Director
of the English Composition Program. http://oz.uc.edu/~alexanj/

Jacqueline Rhodes is Assistant Professor of English at California State
University, San Bernardino, where she has served as composition coordinator,
technology coordinator, and associate coordinator of the M.A. program in
English Composition. http://home.earthlink.net/~shehun/cv

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