Proposal Deadlines: Online, by 11:59 p.m. Central Time, May 6, 2011 Mailed, postmarked by April 29, 2011
Writing Gateways
In March of 2012, we will convene in the elliptical shadow of one of the world’s great structures, the St. Louis Gateway Arch—at 630 feet, the tallest human-made monument in the United States. Designed by futurist architect Eero Saarinen and dedicated in 1968, the arch was constructed as a testament to what the Hartford Courant described as “the pioneer spirit of the men and women who won the West, and those of a latter day to strive on other frontiers.” A symbol of hope and progress, the starting point of Lewis and Clark’s expedition and the threshold of the Louisiana Purchase, the arch was designed to represent the triumph of American expansionist ideology. But the arch’s symbol of manifest destiny and westward expansion also has its down side. Through its door to history, we see the subjugation and exclusion of indigenous people. We see the unbridled imposition of makeshift law. We see the exploitation of foreign and migrant workers. And we see the eventual destruction and overdevelopment of unspoiled land. Just as we often associate movement through a gateway with gain (enlightenment, wisdom, employability), a successful passage can also mean loss: leaving behind one’s culture or language, taking on questionable new roles, or joining exclusionary communities of practice. Like the portals in many literary, artistic, and faith traditions, gateways are both transition points and checkpoints—thresholds that promise a welcome transformation, new state of being, or a journey onward, and borders that can block, reject, and turn away.
The history of composition reflects a spirit of continuous exploration. We’ve seen movements through methodological and (inter)disciplinary orientations, and expansions into new specialized areas of inquiry. We’ve experienced new territories of literacy: digital and multimodal forms of communication, rapidly expanding contexts of activity, and the formation and transformation of genres. In practice, our field is fundamentally about the transitions that literacy brings to individual lives and collective destinies, in the embodied work of turning thought into words and other media. The very act of writing has been theorized as both inwardly and publicly transformative, the inscription of language yielding to the recursions of contemplation, reconsideration, rhetorical deliberation, and change. Such transitions lead us to higher levels of knowledge and awareness—and to action. But the progress they represent is never ideologically neutral. Welcoming us to consider what it means to move into and through our work with writing and rhetoric, in all its forms, purposes, and contexts, the Gateway Arch offers an apt metaphor for our conference. What gateways are rhetoric and composition now creating? How does our field monitor gateways created by others? Who is passing through these gateways, and toward what future? Who or what is turned away or left behind?
As we look ahead to the 2012 convention, I invite you to consider some of the following questions occasioned by our conference theme. As always, we will feature some sessions that explore and advance the theme and others that explore and advance the many areas of vigorous research, theorizing, and practice in our field at large.
• How is writing related to transition—within courses and majors; between disciplines and curricula; across structurally distinct systems such as high school, community college, college/university, and workplace; from work, retirement, or post-military service to school; and from self-sponsored, non-academic worlds to classrooms, and back? How do we facilitate and study such transitions, and with what effect?
• What do writers bring with them (or leave behind) as they pass through discursive and rhetorical gateways defined by multiple contexts for writing?
• What do we still need to know about transitions in the acquisition of writing ability, especially in a digitally-mediated world?
• How are institutional and programmatic policies affecting gateways to access? How can writing assessment welcome students into higher literacies instead of serving as exclusionary or discriminatory checkpoints?
• What legislation—at all levels—is creating new gateways for employment, research, teaching, and learning, and how should we respond?
• What new global and international gateways are opening up for literacy research and teaching, and with what new challenges?
• How are emerging digital technologies and multiple modes of communication becoming new rhetorical and informational gateways?
• What scholarly and methodological gateways has the field constructed, and do they limit or open up possibilities for inquiry?
• What else can we learn about the discipline from studying its past transitions and the consequences of those who moved into new territories of inquiry and teaching?
• How does the discipline welcome in new teachers, scholars, and students? Who among all our publics—scholars in other disciplines, policy- and lawmakers, business leaders, and the general public—are turned away, and why?
Further, I urge you to consider revitalizing our field’s historic roots in inter- and multidisciplinary inquiry. Scholars in many areas continue to produce new knowledge greatly relevant to our own paths of research, and teachers in more and more areas of the curriculum continue to develop interests in the pedagogies of writing. In addition, CCCC members are pursuing exciting new collaborations with people in contexts beyond higher education, such as K-12 schools, business and industry, nonprofits, government agencies, and prisons, to name a few. For this reason, you’ll find an additional category for proposals: “interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and cross-contextual perspectives.” Proposals in this category don’t need to include presenters from other fields or settings, but, of course, we warmly welcome them.
This call is being issued far enough ahead of the current annual convention to allow CCCC members to meet and plan their panels, SIGs, workshops, and other proposals on site. For those who will gather in Atlanta, please use this opportunity to look ahead to the 2012 convention in St. Louis. To facilitate on-site meetings among those with similar interests who want to plan sessions, we’ve set up a special Connected Community site where you can post queries or link up with others. Please find a dedicated space at the new Connected Communities site www.ncte.org/cccc/connectedcommunity
I eagerly look forward to receiving your proposals and seeing you in St. Louis in 2012.
Chris M. Anson
North Carolina State University
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