RCID presents at 4C’s ’23
Many RCID alumni and current students presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication in Chicago from February 15-18, 2023.
Dr. Whitney Jordan Adams, Visiting Assistant Professor of English, Rhetoric, and Writing at Berry College, presented on a panel alongside Dr. Cameron Bushnell on Thursday night. This panel studied the lit/comp divide that undermines the pedagogical effectiveness of both areas of teaching. The speakers advocate teaching the multifaceted nature of language, provoking and igniting student thought, and assisting students to render thoughts into impassioned, persuasive language challenging master narratives.
First year Ph.D. students Jessie Reynolds-Clay, and Gabrielle Wilkosz presented Digital Praxis Posters on Thursday morning. Reynolds-Clay’s was titled, “The Essentiality of TikTok in the Writing Classroom: Creating Position Statements for Change” which discussed the concepts of rhetorical listening by having students study the rhetoric of social justice on TikTok. Students then create position statements and produce their own TikTok videos using strategies for diverse audiences. TikTok is a window into the competing cultural logics and social issues; thus, this project provides students with opportunities to engage in ways that matter to them while teaching them valuable rhetorical skills. Wilkosz’s was titled, “Airplane Mode Off.”
Drs. Victoria Houser, Eda Özyeşilpınar, and Mari Ramler presented on a panel on Friday afternoon. Their panel addressed harm on bodies by centering rhetorical religious belief and its material effects on marginalized people. They made explicit how bodies are constituted and constructed within the contours of religious, scientific, and political spheres.
Dr. Jacob Richter presented as part of a panel on Friday afternoon. His presentation examined multimodal composition and transfer research in relation to social media writing environments. It studied how attention to audience, genre, medium, and delivery in social media writing processes can help students to transfer knowledge and rhetorical capacities from non-academic to academic composition settings.
Hannah Taylor, PhD candidate, presented on Friday morning. Her panel looked at scenes of reproductive justice advocacy to identify discursive strategies and their material benefits. What do principled, impactful acts of reproductive justice advocacy and solidarity entail, and how might they constitute a rhetoric, or set of persuasive moves that can be named and replicated?
Sethunya Gall (ABD) presented Friday morning. His presentation focused on decolonial, storytelling, and counterstory approaches to achieve racial justice, social justice, and student advocacy.
Dr. Sarah Cooper (who recently passed her dissertation defense!) presented on Friday afternoon. Her panel took inspiration from the past and explored sites where our predecessors practiced hope despite oppressive circumstances. She presented alongside Dr. Michelle Smith.
Lane Riggs presented Saturday morning. Her presentation explored how foregrounding our embodied vulnerability as teachers models a critical, hopeful praxis. She analyzed in her paper how the university privileges particular feeling, thinking, speaking, writing bodies and the stories they tell.
Jacob presented again Saturday afternoon. This presentation looked at best practices for using online learning environments and social media.
